Mass Effect Fighting of the Reapers redux
by judodave
Summary: This a redo of my old Fighting off The Reapers fanfic which you can find on my profile, this version is set post Arrival and the plot elements are based on what we know about Mass Effect 3 so far.
1. Chapter 1

(OOC: The character of Kolvant Garr is not mine; I am using him with permission from Tolgron a member of the RP website/forum Mass Effect Universe, he also created his dossier)

Jason Shepard sat in his captain's quarters as he awaited the start of his trial, it had been roughly a week since the destruction of the Alpha Relay alongside over Three Hundred Thousand Batarians, Shepard wasn't exactly a big fan of Batarians, he had fought against them several times in his lifetime including the Skillian Blitz and the Asteroid X57 incident but still he was feeling some guilt over it.

"Commander?" Shepard looked up and saw Kelly Chambers at the doorway, accompanying her was a man in an Alliance uniform with plenty of medals on his chest alongside two other Alliance soldiers, a young red head woman with blue eyes and a male with brown hair and blue eyes. "Major Marcus Resoltio is here to see you."

"He can come in." Shepard said plainly and his assistant left, the oldest of the three entered the quarters and sat down.

"Shepard, it's an honour to meet the hero of the Skillian Blitz, I just wish it was under more pleasant circumstances." The Major said.

"Admiral Hackett couldn't make it?" Shepard asked.

"He had paperwork to do." The woman chimed in, her accent sounded Scottish; when Marcus looked at her disapprovingly she quickly saluted him. "Oh err, sorry for interrupting sir." She said quickly.

"At ease McKansa." Marcus said before turning to Shepard. "She speaks the truth though, however Hackett was able to pull a few favours for you, he's got one of the best attorneys in the galaxy to represent you at the trial."

"I told him I intend to represent myself." Shepard said but Marcus shook his head.

"Shepard, you'd be a sitting duck out there, consider it a favour." Marcus said before turning to the younger soldiers. "McKansa, Roberts, would you two mind standing outside for a few minutes?" The two soldiers saluted him and walked out. "Shepard, between you and me, is the Reaper threat real?"

"It is major, and I intend to prove it one way or another." Shepard said folding his arms, the major let out a sigh of relief.

"Just what I wanted to hear, the attorney I mentioned suggested going for an Insanity defence when he was informed of the reason you destroyed that system, I punched him in the jaw for even thinking along those lines." Marcus said as he stood up and started pacing. "I take no pride in this; you're a damn hero in my book, after I lost my wife in the battle of the Citadel I made my disapproval of the council's smear campaign against you known, it may have cost me a promotion but I don't care." Shepard stood up as well.

"I'm glad we see eye to eye, is there anyone else that'll be present at the trial that I should know about?" Shepard asks and Marcus stopped pacing.

"Your old crewmember Ashley Williams for one, she's been here all week come to think of it, Anderson as well and I think I saw Udina as well." Marcus said. "The bastard was as smug as ever."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Shepard said shaking his head. "What's with the guard detail?"

"Anderson's insistence, in case any pissed of Batarians try to take your life." Marcus said.

"He put my life in the hands of an obvious rookie and some guy who doesn't talk much?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't let that fool you commander, Roberts is a good soldier and McKansa may be a rookie but you wouldn't think it if you ever saw her in action." Marcus said folding his arms. "Besides their under my command and I know how to straighten out trouble makers."

"You mean McKansa?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, Roberts isn't too bad he just isn't much of a talker, McKansa has a hell of a temper and is a pretty good biotic, and they were put under my command because no one else wanted her in their command due to her temper." Marcus said looking out a nearby window. "I handpicked them to accompany me Commander, I wouldn't of picked them if I didn't know that they were capable or not."

"I'll take your word for it." Shepard said before he changed the subject "What can you tell me about this attorney?"

"His name's Tyler Francs, he's only 24 years old but his skills as an attorney are second to none, your defence is in capable hands and don't worry, he won't be going for an Insanity plea anymore." Marcus said, the door opened and McKansa entered.

"Sir Anderson just called; they're ready for Commander Shepard." The young soldier said.

"Thanks McKansa." Marcus said as the two men walked towards her. "Is Francs waiting for us?"

"Aye, he's still as smug as ever." She replied as Roberts joined them, the four soldiers walked to the elevator and entered it, Shepard pressed the button to take them down to the CIC and they waited for the elevator to reach the CIC. "Commander, if you don't mind me asking, do the charges have any merit?"

"I wish they didn't McKansa, that's all I'm saying on the matter." Shepard said as the Elevator reached the CIC, the four soldiers left the Normandy and Marcus looked around.

"Tyler, are you there?" Marcus called out.

"Over here." A man with an English accent called out, the four soldiers approached the origin of the voice and saw a tall and fairly muscular man with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and brown eyes, he was dressed in a nice suit. "Commander Shepard, I'll be your attorney for the evening, Tyler Francs." Tyler said extending his hand out for a handshake, Shepard merely folded his arms. "Something I said?"

"No, I just don't like attorneys." Shepard said plainly.

"If I had a credit chit for every time I heard someone say that, especially if that someone's a client, be thankful that Hackett paid all my legal fees in advance." Tyler said shaking his head. "To be blunt I don't exactly like muscle head soldiers either but I guess we'll have to coexist."

"Treat him with respect; he's the hero of the Skillian blitz and the Citadel." Marcus demanded.

"And he also blew up over 3 Hundred Thousand Batarians in order to prevent the supposed arrival of the Reapers." Tyler said folding his arms. "I'll represent you to the best of my ability Commander but I don't condone what you did, let's get going I'd hate to delay your day in court."

"Lead the way." Shepard said plainly and Tyler led them to his car. "Are you coming Major?"

"No, we have our own car." The major said; Shepard closed the passenger side door as he entered it and Tyler drove towards the courthouse, once they arrived Shepard got out of the car first and was immediately swarmed by the press.

"I said my client doesn't have anything to say..." Tyler retorted, waving a dismissive hand to the horde of the press. He turned to give Shepard an assuring nod, to physically tell him that this was going to pull through. Though the expression that befell his face was not one of guarantee, but instead his jaw fell agape as the entire city darkened as if submerged into shadow. A piercing electronic whirr filled the air, instinctively forcing many that were present, press and citizen alike to cover their ears and peer to the skies in hopes to garner what was happening. Above them, high into the heavens themselves was a sight that one would not forget until death: A massive fleet of monolith vessels bore down on the city, their purplish armoured cephalopod hides blocked out the sun with an eclipse of ungodly proportions. "What on Earth..." Those were the only words uttered from a terrified Tyler Francs as the attack began. In unison, the ships began to open fire onto the populace, bright flashes of light, almost beautiful in a disturbing way struck the ground with such impact that the impending shockwave sent the cowering civilians of the city to their feet. Those unlucky enough to escape the radius were incinerated instantly.

Shepard and Tyler where able to get away from the blast radius in time but others weren't so lucky, several members of the press where killed in the blast alongside anyone inside the courtroom.

"So those are the Reapers?" Tyler asks and Shepard merely nodded. "If you've got any suggestions I'm listening."

"Commander!" Shepard and Tyler looked up and saw Ashley Williams alongside Anderson, Marcus, McKansa and Roberts, Ashley's hair was down and she was in grey armour. "We're leaving, now."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Shepard said walking up to Ashley. "Look, Ash about what happened on Horizon."

"Let's worry about that later, Joker sent us the Hammerhead at my request, we need to get to the Citadel and we need to get there ASAP." Anderson said just as the shuttle arrived, Shepard looked around, he had the sneaking suspicion that this was too easy, it was then that he heard it, well over a hundred husks and Scions where behind them.

"We'd never be able to take on that many at once." Shepard said. "Everyone, get on the shuttle now." Tyler was the first onto the shuttle followed by McKansa, Ashley, Marcus, Anderson and Shepard. Roberts stayed behind though.

"What are you doing?" Marcus demanded.

"Making sure the hero of the Citadel makes it out alive." Roberts said giving a respectful nod to Shepard who returned it. "Major, it's been an honour serving under you."

"Don't talk like that, there's still room on the Hammerhead." McKansa chimed in; Roberts said nothing and started firing at the husks as the Hammerhead took off.

"_This is it; I always did want to go out in a blaze of glory."_ Roberts thought as he fired upon the crowd of husks, he held his own for a while using his Alliance training to his advantage but the Scions constant interference proved too much for the soldier and he was quickly overwhelmed.

"Damn it." McKansa said as she watched Roberts sacrifice himself punching the Hammerhead's window in frustration as she did, she was clearly unhappy about the development. "This isn't right."

"I don't agree with it either McKansa but he gave his life to save us." Marcus said sadly. "I'll see to it that he'll get a proper burial when this is all over." Marcus reassured her, McKansa sighed and calmed down.

"Let's get back on topic." Anderson said as he looked between the other occupants of the Hammerhead. "Shepard I'm sure you have a lot of questions in mind so I'll get your first question out of the way, we are on the way to the Citadel for an emergency meeting with the Council, word hasn't reached the Citadel yet but it's only a matter of time."

"Do the other councillors know?" Shepard asks Anderson and the Human Councillor nodded his head in response.

"I sent them a live video feed from Earth in case the Turian Councillor was ready to dismiss the claim." Anderson added and Marcus grinned.

"I'd like to see those idiots dismiss this as a Geth attack." Marcus said before turning to Shepard. "I and McKansa intend to join your ship Commander, we have family on Earth and we intend to make sure that they make it out alive."

"I'd be honoured to have you aboard the ship." Shepard said before turning to Tyler. "Do you want to be dropped off anywhere in particular?"

"Just drop me off on the Citadel, my law firm's there and it's also where I live." Tyler said before adjusting his suit. "Major, I want to apologize for even suggesting the insanity defence when I first heard about the reasons for Shepard's destruction of the relay."

"Apology accepted, at least your man enough to realize that you where wrong." Marcus said as the Hammerhead entered the Normandy, once the door was closed Shepard hopped out of the Hammerhead and made his way towards the CIC and ran up to Joker.

"Joker, get us to the Citadel now." Shepard commanded; Joker started typing in commands as he piloted the ship towards the nearest Mass Relay, once they were out of the Sol Cluster Shepard turned to Anderson. "So what's the plan once we reach the Citadel?"

"We'll go to the Citadel Tower and see what the Council thinks of this." Anderson said folding his arms. "I'll see to it that you get your Spectre Status fully reinstated."

"That won't be enough." Marcus chimed in. "It took the original Normandy, a large amount of Alliance ships and the Destiny Ascension to defeat one Reaper when Sovereign attacked the Citadel, we'd need a lot more than that if we're planning on taking out all the Reapers on Earth." Shepard nodded and looked out the nearest window, his mind already at work.

"First priority is upgrading the Normandy's Weapons Systems, armour and engine protection, they were designed to take out a Collector Ship and protect against Collector weaponry." Shepard said as he turned to the others.

"I have some friends in Research and Development; I'll call in a few favours once we're on the Citadel." Marcus responded folding his arms.

"Good, next priority is assembling a team; we'll need the best if we're going to take down the Reapers." Shepard said turning towards Ashley. "Ash, I could use you on this mission..." Shepard started and Ashley stopped him.

"Say no more Skipper, with my recent admission into the Spectres I'll be glad to help." Ashley said glancing around the ship.

"Good...wait what?" Shepard paused upon hearing the last part, he turned to Anderson. "When did this happen?"

"Sorry Commander, I meant to tell you sooner but with everything that happened on Earth we needed to get off the planet first, she was accepted into the Spectres shortly after the mission on Horizon, she didn't know it at the time but that mission was her last test before she was accepted into the Spectres." Anderson said, Shepard frowned obviously unhappy at not being told sooner but let it pass.

"As for the rest of the team, Anderson I'll need your help with assembling the team, could you make that happen?" Shepard asks and Anderson nodded.

"I and Udina will get to work on that as soon as we're on the Citadel, we'll collect dossiers on the best scientists, mercenaries and engineers we can." Anderson said looking around the CIC. "What's the next priority?"

"That's simple, unifying the galaxy against the Reaper threat." Shepard said and the rest of the crew gave him funny looks.

"If that's your idea of simple I'd hate to see your idea of complicated." McKansa said folding her arms.

"Jenny has a point Commander, we're talking about entire races setting aside their differences and considering the differences between, and for example, the Krogans and the Salarians that's like trying to get Keepers to do advance Mathematics." Marcus said before frowning. "And don't even get me started on the Batarians." Marcus said shaking his head. "They hated humanity already but with the destruction of the Alpha Relay..."

"I get the point, but I've pulled off the impossible before and I'm not about to start." Shepard said sitting down on a bulkhead. "I already have the Rachni on our side anyway but getting the Quarians and Geth on our side should be easy enough." At the last one Marcus, Anderson, Ashley and Jenny did a double take. "I probably should've mentioned earlier, we have a Geth on board in the AI core and yes this ship has an AI."

"If the any of you need any assistance I will be happy to help." EDI'S avatar popped up behind them and they span around.

"I'm not even going to ask." Ashley muttered shaking her head, Anderson, Marcus and Jenny nodded in agreement as the Normandy entered another Mass Relay.

"We've arrived at the Citadel commander, we've just landed." Joker announced and Shepard nodded.

"Let's not waste any time, we'll take the rapid transit to the Citadel Tower and speak to the council from there." Shepard told the crew. "As for you Tyler are you okay with staying on the Wards?" Tyler nodded but he was already on his way out anyway, once Tyler left Shepard and Anderson left the Normandy and headed towards the nearest rapid transit and took it to the Citadel Tower, once they were in the building Shepard looked around, it didn't look to different from the way it looked before Sovereign's attack but it was clear to him that security had been stepped up a great deal with a metal detector near the elevator entrance and armed guards near the council chambers and that was only what he could see. "I see security's been stepped up here as well."

"To be blunt I'm surprised they didn't upgrade security sooner." Anderson replied before approaching one of the guards. "He's with me, he's a Spectre agent."

"We'll need to confirm it, what's his name?" The Turian asks as he activates his onmi-tool.

"Commander Shepard." Shepard said approaching them, once the guard confirmed it he let them through, however he stopped Shepard and turned to him.

"Word's spread about the attack on Earth human, your species has my sympathies." The Turian added with sincerity in his voice.

"I appreciate it, thank you." Shepard responded as the Turian let him go, he caught up with Anderson as he reached the council chambers.

"We have reviewed the live footage of Earth commander; the fact that Reapers actually exist is troubling to say the least." The Salarian councillor started as Anderson joined them.

"In light of this the council pledges full support towards you and any efforts you make to stop the Reapers before they reach the Citadel." The Turian councillor added. "Just say the word and we'll help you in any way we can."

"Good, here's what I need, I need my ship upgraded, I'll need to assemble a team, and an even better one than the one I assembled for the Collector mission at that and most importantly I'll need to unify both the council and non-council races against the Reaper threat." Shepard said as the Councillors nodded.

"We'll leave the unifying to you but we can arrange the dossiers and the upgrades." The Asari councillor said. "That will be a difficult mission though, after all most of the non-council races hate the council races."

"I understand but I have accomplished the impossible in the past." Shepard pointed out. "I only have one request, that the crew members that worked on the areas your upgrading superivise the upgrades, is that possible?" Shepard asked and they nodded. "One last thing, how long will you need to get the upgrades done?" The councillors looked at each other and though for a moment.

"I'd say about two hours Commander." Anderson finally said and Shepard nodded.

"Then you have two hours, my crew will assist in any way they can." Shepard said before folding his arms. "If there's nothing else I'll return to the Normandy."

"There is one other thing commander." The Turian Councillor interrupted him. "The Citadel fleet is armed and ready to attack the Reapers on Earth."

"Even that won't be enough." Shepard pointed out. "There was over a dozen Reapers in the city where my trial was held alone, we don't even know about the rest of the planet." The Salarian and Asari councillors nodded realizing that Shepard had a point, after that Shepard left the Citadel tower and returned to the Normandy where he watches as the upgrades where carried out, he was in the CIC waiting for news from the Citadel Council.

"Commander." Kelly Chambers ran up to him carrying several datapads. "Anderson just forwarded these dossiers." She said handing them over, Shepard looked at them before turning to the Yoeman.

"Thanks Kelly, pass the word around that if anyone wants me I'll be in my quarters." Shepard commanded, Kelly nodded before running off, Shepard took the elevator up to his quarters and sat down as he began to read the dossiers.

_Urdnot Drakus_

_-Krogan Battlemaster_

_-Years of experience under his belt_

_-Fought in the Krogan Rebellions_

_A very powerful biotic and combat veteran, Drakus is one of the most powerful biotics in the Terminus Systems; he was last seen on Omega._

_Andrea McKenzie_

_-Powerful biotic and tech expert_

_-Good shot_

_-Surprisingly intelligent for a freelancer_

_A career criminal originally from Earth who escaped to the Terminus Systems in order to escape prosecution, the Council is willing to give her a complete pardon for her crimes in exchange for her cooperation, she was last seen on Omega._

Shepard stroked his chin as he read the first two dossiers, deciding to recruit them first since they had been sighted in the same location, his thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Shepard looked up.

"Commander, Chambers said I could find you up here." Garrus said entering the quarters, he looked around the quarters. "Those are the dossiers?" Garrus asked motioning to the datapads in Shepard's hand.

"Two of them." Shepard said setting Andrea and Drakus' dossiers aside. "How are the upgrades going?" Shepard asked.

"They're going well but that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about." Garrus said taking a seat. "It's that young soldier, Jenny McKansa, she's been...hostile towards me." Garrus said trailing off.

"You want me to talk with her?" Shepard asks, the last thing he wanted was hostility between the crew members.

"If you can even talk to her than you'll make more progress than me." Garrus grunted shaking his head. "She's been avoiding contact even with Marcus ever since the upgrades started."

"I'll talk to her on the way to Omega." Shepard said as he looked at the next dossier.

_Liara T'Soni_

Shepard didn't bother reading the rest, he had worked with Liara before after all and unlike the Council he knew where to find her, the Shadow Broker's base on Hagalaz, he wasn't sure if he would be able to recruit her but time would tell.

_Kolvant Garr___

_- Centuries of combat experience - a hardened soldier.__  
><em>_- A good deal of expertise in hacking and engineering__  
><em>_- Remarkable self control and level-headedness for a Krogan.___

_Kolvant Garr is one of the more dedicated and reliable Krogan mercenaries in Citadel space. We have currently set up a contract with him, and he is ready for pick up on Tuchanka, where is currently paying respects to Clan Kolvant's chieftain._

"Clan Kolvant?" Shepard said out loud.

"Sounds like a Krogan clan." Garrus said looking at the dossier. "A Krogan infiltrator? Did hell freeze over when I wasn't looking?"

"I'm sure Urdnot Wrex will be able to point us in the right direction." Shepard said before realizing that was the last of the dossiers for now. "The council must still be working on that." Shepard theorized.

"Commander, the upgrades are completed." EDI'S avatar popped up, Shepard and Garrus turned to EDI and Shepard nodded.

"I'll return to the forward batteries in that case Commander." Garrus said before standing up and leaving the quarters, once Garrus had left Shepard turned too EDI.

"Tell Joker that we're going to Omega first." Shepard said as he stood up, he set the datapads aside, as the Normandy left the Serpent Nebula he prayed for anyone that was stuck on Earth during the Reaper attack before leaving the crew quarters.


	2. Chapter 2

Shepard reached the crew's quarters and glanced around in search of Jenny, it had been two hours since they had left the serpent nebula and he had spent most of it going over the upgrades with Mordin, he found the young red head at the cafeteria handing an empty plate over to Rupert and he approached her.

"Jenny, can we talk?" Shepard asked as he approached her, she turned around and grinned.

"Sure, what about?" Jenny asks as Rupert starts cleaning her plate, seeing the look on Shepard's face however made her grin disappear. "This is about how I acted towards Garrus earlier isn't it?" Jenny asked and Shepard nodded. "Can we talk about this somewhere more private?" Shepard turned to Rupert.

"Anyone in the crew's quarters?" Shepard asked Rupert who shook his head.

"Nah, its empty last I checked." Rupert said putting Jenny's clean plate aside, Shepard said nothing and lead Jenny to the crew's quarters, once they were in the quarters Shepard locked the door.

"Let me guess, Garrus said I was being hostile towards him right?" Jenny asked and Shepard nodded. "Look that's just a big misunderstanding on his part, okay not big because I've always been uneasy around Turians but you know what I mean."

"Is that because of First Contact?" Shepard asked, he knew Jenny was too young to be a First Contact veteran so he suspected that a family member had been involved with the war, Jenny confirmed it with a nod.

"Aye, my grandfather was in First Contact, once the war was over he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he never gave any details but all he said was that he saw a lot of friends die that day and that he still heard their screams at night." Jenny shook her head sadly. "Ever since then my family hasn't had the best relationship with the Turian race, me and my siblings have tried getting along with a few of them but our dad didn't exactly approve." Jenny added.

"You have siblings? How many?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Three, Sophie and Kate are my twin sisters and Zach's the oldest, last I heard my sisters are still in bootcamp and Zach...it's complicated." She trailed off, her eyes narrowing to the floor as a quiet sigh escaped her lips, it was obvious to Shepard that Jenny was recalling painful childhood memories and he was curious to find out.

"Something happened between you and your brother?" Shepard asked though he had a feeling that Jenny didn't want to talk about it.

"Aye, and if you don't mind I'd rather not talk about it." Jenny said confirming what Shepard thought. "Can we get back on track?"

"Sure, if that was the case why where you ignoring Garrus?" Shepard asked and Jenny facepalmed clearly embarrassed.

"Is that how my actions came off to him? Jesus Christ, tell him I'm sorry okay I wasn't ignoring him, I just wanted some privacy after Roberts' death." Jenny said and Shepard raised an eyebrow at that.

"You and Roberts where close?" Shepard asked, Jenny nodded and Shepard folded his arms. "Last I checked fraternisation was against the rules." Jenny blushed furiously at that.

"Not THAT close." Jenny said barely able to contain her embarrassment at that point. "We had been friends since Bootcamp, it never got any further than that, besides even if we where that close Marcus would've called us out on it, he has a knack for finding something like that out."

"I'll take your word for it." Shepard said unlocking the door to the crew's quarters though he did plan on asking about her brother if he ended up being involved in a mission. "Our next destination is Omega, you'll be on the ground team alongside Grunt, be ready by then."

"Got it Commander." Jenny nodded as Shepard left, Shepard started considering what he was going to do next when Marcus approached him.

"She a feisty one huh Commander?" Marcus asks rhetorically as he approached him, the Major looked like he had just enjoyed a good meal based on his mannerisms.

"That she is." Shepard agreed before leaning against the wall. "Did you know about her grandfather?"

"Yeah, I didn't even need to ask her about it as I was in First Contact myself, never talked with McKansa's grandfather to much but he seemed like a good soldier...until Shanxi happened, he was an emotional wreck even after the war ended." Marcus sighed leaning against the wall. "I don't have any issues with the Turians, they were just trying to prevent a possible repeat of the Rachni Wars, but it's not like we knew better at the time."

"True enough." Shepard agreed. "Does Jenny know that you knew her grandfather?" Shepard asked and Marcus nodded.

"First thing I mentioned to her when she signed up for my unit, it helped me with keeping her temper under control though from what I remember her grandfather was just as hot headed, must run in the family or something." Marcus chuckled but turned serious almost as if he sensed Shepard's next question, he shook his head. "I don't know what the deal if with her brother Commander, I did ask about it several times prior to coming to the Normandy to take you to your trial but she kept avoiding the question."

"Thanks anyway." Shepard said before Joker's voice came in over the intercom.

"Commander, we've docked on Omega." Joker announced over the intercom, Shepard turned to EDI and "her" avatar popped up.

"Tell Grunt to meet me at the airlock." Shepard commanded, he didn't give EDI a chance to respond as he made his way towards the elevator, before Shepard could press the button for the CIC Jenny came running in hurriedly putting on her armour.

"You know, when you said "be ready by then" I didn't think you meant five seconds after our conversation." Jenny said as she put on the top part of her armour ignoring the amused look on Shepard's face.

"Sorry, didn't realize how close we where to Omega." Shepard confessed before pressing the button for the CIC, the elevator doors closed and the elevator started it's ascent.

"Apology accepted." Jenny muttered clearly still annoyed at Shepard. "Who are we picking up on Omega anyway?"

"Two mercenaries, Andrea McKenzie and Urdnot Drakus." Shepard answered but he noticed that Jenny's expression darkened at the mention of Andrea. "You know her?"

"Knew her, she was Zach's ex girlfriend before she left Earth for Omega." Jenny said, Shepard wanted to enquire further but he knew that this would just bring up the subject of her brother so he dropped it, as Jenny straightened out her armour Shepard wondered if the issue between Andrea and Jenny would come up at some point.

"Jenny, before I recruit her I need to know, is there any issues between you and Andrea that might come up during the mission?" Shepard asked remembering the confrontations between Tali and Legion and Jack and Miranda, Jenny thought for a moment before shrugging.

"I have no clue; as long as she doesn't bring it up when we find her I don't think they'll be an issue." Jenny answered, Shepard wasn't satisfied with her answer but chose to make do for now as the Elevator doors opened and they exited the elevator, they waited for Grunt to arrive and a few minutes later Grunt stepped out of the elevator.

"Humph, she's one of the new recruits? She doesn't look like much." Grunt commented and Jenny grunted in response.

"Behave you two." Shepard said leading the two of them out of the ship and onto Omega. "We're heading to Afterlife, if anyone can find Drakus and Andrea its Aria." Shepard told them as he made his way to the entrance, as the doors opened he turned to one of the Batarians by the door. "Is Aria in?"

"No, she had business off world." The Batarian answered. "Patriarch's running the show in her place." Shepard frowned at that.

"Something wrong?" Jenny asked Shepard who turned to her.

"I don't think Patriarch knows as much about Omega as Aria does." Shepard commented and the Batarian looked up.

"He doesn't but I know someone who may help." The Batarian said. "Speak to Urdnot Krak, he's a bartender at Afterlife, if anyone knows almost as much about Omega as Aria does it's him." Shepard turned to the Batarian and nodded in thanks.

"Where does this Krak work?" Shepard asked.

"Lower levels, apparently he prefers the peace and quiet down there." The Batarian shrugged as he noticed the surprised looks on Shepard's, Grunt's and Jenny's faces. "Yeah, I know how weird that is."

"Got it thanks." Shepard nodded as he lead the trio to the lower levels, once they where there they spotted the Krogan behind the bar, he was short for a Krogan and looked fairly old, Shepard approached him. "Urdnot Krak?"

"If you're looking for an autograph don't bother, I'm on duty human." Krak dismissed him, Grunt stepped forward.

"Show Shepard the respect he deserves." Grunt said bluntly catching Krak's attention.

"The tank bred has a quad, wait Commander Shepard?" Krak said turning around. "My apologies Commander, this shift has been hectic for me." Krak said grabbing a glass. "What can I get you?"

"Information, I'm looking for two mercenaries and I was told you could help me with that." Shepard responded and Krak set the glass down.

"Are you now? What's that human expression? Finding a needle in a haystack?" Shepard nodded. "You may as well try doing that unless you have their names; Omega is a popular destination for mercenaries." Krak commented as he started pouring a drink for another customer.

"Andrea McKenzie and Urdnot Drakus." Jenny chimed in and Krak chuckled.

"I didn't realize the human military allowed whelps like her into their ranks." Krak chuckled as he handed the drink to the customer. "I can help you find Andrea but not Drakus; he hasn't been in for a few days now." Krak said but before Shepard could enquire further Krak turned his back to him. "Hey Andrea, someone wants to see you." A few minutes later a young woman approached them, she had long black hair in a ponytail and blue eyes, she was wearing colossus armour.

"Andrea McKenzie?" Shepard asked hardly believing his luck.

"Aye, how can I?" Andrea began but she stopped when she saw Jenny. "Jenny McKansa? Holy shit, I haven't seen you since..."

"Since you left Earth and broke my brother's heart." Jenny interrupted her narrowing her eyes at the older woman who winced.

"Still sore over that huh?" Andrea asked taking a sip of her drink. "Look as far as I'm concerned Zach's ancient history, along with any ideas I had about being in a serious relationship, so why did you want to talk to me." Andrea asks turning to Shepard taking a sip of her drink.

"I'm Commander Shepard, this is Urdnot Grunt and you already know Jenny, I'm here to recruit you for a mission." Shepard said, as he said that Andrea ended up spitting out the rest in surprise clearly not expecting that.

"I wasn't aware that Spectres recruited mercenaries." Andrea said once her surprise wore off. "You want to recruit me? Fine but I need your help first."

"I knew this was too easy." Shepard grumbled. "What do you need help with?"

"A job." Andrea said activating her onmi-tool. "Before Krak called me over I had just been contracted for a job that's too big for me to handle." Andrea said before Jenny scoffed.

"I would've thought you'd be used to handling big things." Jenny scoffed and Andrea chuckled.

"Cute, the little kid thinks she can use adult insults." Andrea rolled her eyes and Shepard gave Jenny a look that said "drop it" and she did, somewhat reluctantly. "As I was saying, a minor merc group has pissed off someone with deep pockets; he's offered me a lot of money to eliminate the group."

"What's in it for us?" Shepard asked her.

"Apart from having me on my team? I'll add the three of you to the mission roster; this basically means that we will get an equal share of the profits from this mission once it's over on the condition that there's no civilian casualties." Andrea said standing up. "Sound like a deal?"

"Do I have a choice?" Shepard shook his head. "Where is this mission taking place?" Shepard asked once Andrea added them to the roster.

"Lower levels of Omega, I have a car that can take us there." Andrea said turning off her onmi-tool. "So, are we good to go?"

"There's one more thing actually, we're picking up a second mercenary, Urdnot Drakus, have you seen him?" Andrea thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"Sorry, can't help ya." Andrea shook her head. "I worked with him on a job two weeks ago but I haven't seen him since." Shepard sighed in annoyance.

"Yes, we're good to go." Shepard told Andrea who led the three of them out of Afterlife ready for the upcoming mission.


	3. Chapter 3

Shepard, Jenny and Grunt followed Andrea to her car, during the time period between travelling from the Lower Sections of Afterlife to Andrea's car Andrea had forwarded to document on the mission to their Onmi-Tools which told Shepard and co more info about the mission; the gang was called the Sangue Demoni and they had apparently been around for quite a while, dating back to before the First Contact War.

Andrea stopped by a black hovercar and unlocked it, the four of them put their weapons in the boot for safe keeping and Jenny and Grunt entered the back and Shepard got in the passenger side door, Shepard closed the door as Andrea entered the car and started the car, as she started driving she turned to Shepard. "So, you going to tell me why you want to recruit me or am I supposed to learn as I go along?" Andrea asks.

"What do you know of the Reapers?" Shepard asked her and Andrea shrugged.

"I'm familiar with the myth, why do you ask?" Andrea asks and Shepard sighs partly in annoyance.

"It's not a myth, the Reapers have invaded Earth." Shepard said, at that point Andrea stopped the car and turned to Shepard.

"You honestly expect me to believe that?" Andrea asks, Shepard turned on the radio and turned to her.

"You know any news stations that report on stuff from Earth?" Shepard asks, Andrea nods and tunes in to the appropriate station, Shepard knew that the news stations had been reporting on the story nonstop and this time was no different, needless to say all colour drained from Andrea's face when she realized it was true. "You have family on Earth?"

"Aye, and that's all I'm saying on the matter." Andrea said as she started the car again, Shepard turned off the radio allowing Andrea to concentrate on driving. "So Jenny, what's Zach up to these days?" Andrea asked adjusting the rear view mirror so that she could see Jenny.

"I don't want to talk about it." Jenny said bluntly folding her arms, Andrea blinks before readjusting the rear-view mirror and turning to Shepard.

"Not very talkative is she?" Andrea shrugs as she continues driving.

"The most I've been able to learn about her brother is his past relationship with you." Shepard answered and Andrea nodded.

"Ah yeah, that old thing." Andrea muttered under her breath. "Like I said before, it's ancient history." Andrea added before stopping the car again. "We're here." Andrea said getting out of the car and going to the boot to retrieve her weapons, Shepard, Grunt and Jenny followed her out and retrieved their weapons, when they looked up they realized that they had stopped in frount of an old warehouse, clearly abandoned.

"What kind of opposition are we facing?" Shepard asked Andrea, she consulted her onmi-tool to double check the info, Shepard could tell from the look on her face that they were in for some heavy opposition.

"Well the good news is that they don't have the manpower of either the Blue Suns, Eclipse or Blood Pack." Andrea said leaning against a nearby wall. "Bad news is they have around 50 or so members." Andrea said turning off her onmi-tool, Grunt pumped his fists together, clearly in anticipation for the upcoming fight.

"Sounds like a good fight to me." Grunt said enthusiastically, Andrea glanced at the young Krogan curiously before shaking her head.

"If I was any younger I'd worry about his mental stability." Andrea muttered under her breath glancing at Grunt as she did. "Luckily I've worked with enough Krogans to get used to that." She added before checking her weapons to see whether or not there was enough thermal clips in them, satisfied she turned to Shepard. "Ready when you are."

"Let's move." Shepard said drawing his mattock, Grunt and Jenny drew their weapons and Shepard turned to Andrea. "You know where the front entrance is?" Andrea nodded and motioned for them to follow her, Jenny kept her distance from Andrea whilst Grunt stayed close to Shepard who followed Andrea closely. "When we complete the mission can you help us find Drakus?" Shepard asked.

"I'll get in contact with the guy who gets the jobs for me and several other freelancers and see if he's had any contact with Drakus, first things first though." Andrea said as they reached the front entrance, it was guarded by two heavily armed Krogan.

"You going to try using your "feminine charms" on them like you do with most men Andrea?" Jenny asks mockingly.

"Kid, stick to your day job stand up comedy's not your thing." Andrea answered back though Shepard did catch her rolling her eyes at Jenny's comment.

"And one more comment like that Jenny and I'll send you back to the ship." Shepard warned, Jenny gulped and quickly nodded, satisfied Shepard turned to Andrea. "Any ideas?" Shepard asked, Andrea turned to him and shook her head.

"None so far but I'm open to suggestions." Andrea replied, she thought for a moment before turning to Jenny. "You're a biotic right?"

"I was the last time I checked, why?" Jenny asked, Andrea grinned and motioned her to the front of the group, Jenny did so and once she was standing side by side with Andrea the older woman fired up her biotics, Jenny quickly caught on to the idea and fired up her own biotics.

"On three we launch two shockwaves at them." Andrea said before turning to Shepard and Grunt. "You guys ready to give them hell afterwards?" Andrea asks and Shepard grins.

"Just say the word." Shepard nods as Grunt pumps his fists enthusiastically; Andrea nods before turning to Jenny.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Jenny asks uncertainly.

"Depends, how many times have you used biotics on Krogan before now?" Andrea asks and Jenny gulps nervously.

"This is the first time." Jenny responds, Andrea groans barely resisting the urge to facepalm but shakes her head.

"Don't they teach you that stuff in the Alliance? Never mind, just follow my lead." Andrea cut of Jenny's response as she started preparing the shockwave as did Jenny. "One...two..." At that point the Krogan had heard the two women bantering and where starting to make their way over to them. "THREE!" Andrea said as the two women fired their shockwaves, the Krogan tried to dive out of the way but where to slow, better yet the shockwaves had knocked out their shields.

Grunt activated his fortification power and charged at the Krogan shouting **"I AM KROGAN!"** as he did, Shepard charged after him and Andrea drew her assault rifle.

"Jenny, you and I are going to give them covering fire in case any of their friends inside charge out." Andrea told Jenny who didn't need to be told twice as the sound of gunfire had indeed attracted the attention of more guards who where quickly met with Assault Rifle fire from the two women, Grunt and Shepard looked up briefly when they heard the gunfire but upon realizing that they were keeping reinforcements pinned down they kept firing on the Krogan until the Krogan where dead, one quick reload later and they were joined by Jenny and Andrea as they grabbed cover behind some large crates as the rest of the Sangue Demoni members opened fire upon them.

"Andrea, be honest with me, did you plan past taking out the Krogan guards?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.

"I'm working on it." Andrea said glancing towards the doorway. "Okay, doesn't look like they sent much in the way of backup, they must've thought that those guys plus the Krogan would be able to handle us." Andrea commented. "Looks like there's five guys at the door in total, the rest must be inside."

"Any other helpful tips?" Grunt asks, Andrea shook her head and then noticed the Arc Projector on Shepard's back.

"That thing have a decent amount of ammo?" Andrea asks pointing to the projector; Shepard quickly caught on and swapped the assault rifle out for the Arc Projector.

"It has plenty of ammo." Shepard answered as he pointed it at the guards and started charging up the Projector, the guards tried firing at him but Jenny, Andrea and Grunt provided covering fire for Shepard as he charged it up, he finally let loose with the projector stunning the guards by the door and allowing Jenny, Andrea and Grunt to finish them off. "Let's move." Shepard commanded swapping out the projector for his Assault Rifle and leading them into the warehouse, the first area they entered was a large empty space save for themselves and several crates. "Isn't that the Blue Suns logo?" Shepard asked spotting the logo on one of the crates.

"Aye, according to my contact this was used by the Blue Suns as a HQ for a weapon smuggling ring before it was shut down by Archangel, looks like the Demoni decided to pick up where they left off." Andrea nodded before getting an idea. "Grunt, you think you can get one of these crates open?" Andrea asked the Krogan who nodded.

"I like the way you think." Grunt said approaching one of the crates and opening it, inside it was several thermal clips and power cells which the squad used to reload their weapons, it was then that Jenny spotted something at the bottom of the crate.

"What's that?" Jenny asked pointing to the object, Grunt picked it up and it looked like a modified ML77 Missile Launcher with the word "destroyer" across the side of the weapon, Shepard inspected the weapon more closely and raised an eyebrow.

"This looks like a weapon developed by the Alliance, or at least by a company that develops weapons for the Alliance." Shepard said as he inspected it. "How did the Blue Suns get their hands on it?" Andrea came in for a closer look and recognised a logo.

"There's your answer, it was developed by Marcello Industries, and it's a company that does two things, develops weapons for the Alliance and hire freelancers to deal with the competition, I wasn't aware that they did business with the Blue Suns but that shows what I know, either that or they simply smuggled this weapon alongside the others, anyway Marcello Industries gave the freelancers they hired access to their weapons for use on the mission." Andrea said folding her arms. "I should know, I've done business with them god knows how many times."

"I'll bring this up with Anderson once we're on the Normandy." Shepard said handing the weapon to Andrea. "You know how to use it?"

"Aye, it's one of their older models." Andrea nodded taking it. "Word of advice, when I say I'm about to fire this thing get behind me as soon as you can." Andrea added holstering the gun, she took another look around and realized that the rest of the crates where too high up for anyone to reach them. "Shall we continue?"

"Let's move." Shepard nodded as they started making their way to the next room...only to be greeted by a room full of mercs who had heard the gunfire outside. "TAKE COVER!" Shepard shouted as a room full of mercs opened fire on them, Shepard almost immediately turned to Andrea. "Now would be an excellent time to use that weapon." Andrea nodded in agreement and swapped out her Mattock for the Destroyer, she pointed it at the ceiling above the mercs and fired. "Are you trying to bring the roof down on us?"

"Just watch." Andrea reassured Shepard who turned to the missile just in time to see it break up and rain down with smaller missiles onto the crowd of mercs doing a number on their shields, Andrea swapped out the Destroyer for her Assault Rifle and the four of them opened fire on the crowd killing most of them only stopping to reload their guns, by the time that the team had reloaded their guns the rest of the mercs had recovered from the attack and had started firing again.

"Can you fire the Destroyer again?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, the weapon only has the ability to fire once, after that it's useless until we find more Power Cells." Andrea said and Shepard sighed in annoyance.

"Why didn't you mention that sooner?" Grunt asked.

"I was planning to but I got sidetracked by our friends over there." Andrea responded as she fired upon the mercs managing to take out a couple of mercs, she fired a warp at the mercs before ducking back behind cover as the rest of the mercs opened fire, Grunt, Jenny and Shepard joined in finishing off the rest of the mercs, they came out of cover and Andrea knelt down in front of one of the mercs and grabbed a keycard that was dangling from a necklace around the merc's neck. "According to the blueprints from my contact we'll need this keycard to get in the next room."

"What's in the next room?" Jenny asked glancing towards a door with a keycard slot on by the door, Andrea walked towards it as swiped the card.

"The Oracle's office, that's what." Andrea answered as the door opened, the others gave her an odd look and she sighed. "The Oracle is the leader of the group, he fancies himself as some kind of cult leader." She answered and Shepard raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't look at me, I'm just relaying the info from my contact."

"Let's just move on." Grunt grumbled before going through the door, Andrea followed him followed by Jenny and Shepard, the office was fairly large and had a plain wood desk in the centre, there was no one else on the room however except for a massive scarred Krogan searching the desk, Shepard, Andrea, Jenny and Grunt drew their guns and the Krogan looked up.

"Are you the one they call The Oracle?" Shepard asked and the Krogan shook his head.

"Don't insult me human, that coward abandoned this base weeks ago, left it in charge of some Salarian, his corpse is over there." The Krogan said with a hint of contempt in his voice as he motioned to a dead Salarian that Shepard hadn't noticed until now, it was then that he noticed Andrea. "Andrea? What the hell are you doing here?" The Krogan asked surprised.

"Drakus?" She asked once she realized who it was a mixture of surprise and relief in her voice. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

"I've been working undercover in this organisation for a good few weeks now." Drakus said walking in front of the desk. "I got this job shortly after we took out that Salarian drug smuggler who thought it was a good idea to take on a Krogan Battlemaster." Drakus chuckled before glancing around at Andrea's companions. "Now then, why don't you three introduce yourselves?"

"Drakus, I'm Commander Shepard, a Spectre, this is Urdnot Grunt, Private Jenny McKansa and you already know Andrea." Shepard introduced himself and his companions. "I'm recruiting you for a mission of Galactic Importance." Shepard added.

"Must be for the council to send a Spectre this far outside Citadel Space." Drakus chuckled. "What do you need me for."

"What do you know of the Reapers?" Shepard asked and Drakus scoffed.

"Is this a trick question?" Drakus asks folding his arms. "I don't pay much attention to Galactic Politics but last I checked the Council had denied the existence of the Reapers." Drakus added.

"They can't deny their existence anymore, the Reapers attacked Earth a few hours ago and we need the best team the galaxy has to offer." Shepard said and the old Krogan did a double take.

"Next thing you tell me is that the Krogan have been granted an embassy on the Citadel." Drakus replied with a hint of concern in his voice. "Andrea, do you really believe him? I thought you where smarter than that."

"I wish he was making it up Drakus." Andrea said activating her onmi-tool and tuning it to a news radio station, once she found it she let the news report on the attack ring out, Drakus said nothing for the next few minutes but by looking at his facial expression Shepard could tell that he was realising the truth.

"This...development disturbs me." Drakus eventually said pacing around the room. "The Reapers exist and yet the council get their heads out of their asses long enough to warn people, this is why I moved to the Terminus Systems." Drakus said anger clear in his voice. "Shepard, name your price, I intend to see this through to the end."

"The Council will pay both your wages and then some; they are willing to pardon the both of you for any crimes you committed in Citadel Space in exchange for your help." Shepard said glancing towards Andrea as he said the last part/

"As if I needed another reason to join your crew commander." Andrea said with a nod, Drakus agreed and went back to searching through the desk. "What where you looking for anyway?"

"Information, that's all I can say for the moment." Drakus said grabbing some documents from the desk.

"There's one thing I don't get, why hire a Krogan to do undercover work?" Jenny chimed in,

"Why not? Who would suspect a Krogan of being an undercover agent? My species is known more for their strength than their intelligence so in a way it makes me the ideal undercover operative, unless we're talking about missions on, say for example, the Asari Homeworld." Drakus replied. "I'm done here and I'm ready to leave when you are commander." Drakus said.

"Let's move." Shepard ordered as the group left the office and the warehouse.


	4. Chapter 4

(OOC: The character of Zee'Nah nar Fiyet doesn't belong to me, he belongs to another member of Mass Effect Universe by the name of Hipho)

Andrea and Drakus followed Shepard as he led them onto the Normandy, they had just gotten back from the mission and as promised Shepard, Jenny and Grunt had been paid, they followed Shepard to the armoury first where Jacob was inspecting the Destroyer.

"Jacob, mind if I show our new crewmembers around?" Shepard said, Jacob looked up before setting the gun aside.

"Sure, I'm Jacob Taylor." He introduced himself to the two mercs as he looked them over. "Let me guess, mercenaries?" Jacob said with annoyance.

"Aye, got a problem with that Jacob?" Andrea chimed in leaning against a table, Jacob simply shook his head.

"I just don't like mercenaries, nothing personal." Jacob answered as he turned towards the Destroyer. "I've been inspecting the gun you found at the Demoni's base, I knew something like this was in development but I had no idea that something like this was falling into the hands of mercenaries." Jacob said glancing towards the weapon.

"If it's any consolation it worked perfectly." Andrea added folding her arms. "Pretty much my only problem with that was that it was a one shot wonder." She added.

"That can be easily rectified with a few upgrades." Jacob replied. "I'm sorry; I don't think I caught your names?"

"Andrea McKenzie." Andrea said with a nod. "He's Urdnot Drakus."

"I can speak for myself." Drakus said stepping forward as he did. "And if I can be brutally honest I don't like Cerberus either, I guess that makes us even human."

"I guess it would, if I was still with Cerberus." Jacob responded folding his arms. "The mission that took us beyond the Omega 4 Relay showed me Cerberus' true colours." Andrea and Drakus blinked and looked towards the Commander.

"I heard a rumour about that; I thought it was just that, a rumour." Drakus said chuckling as he did, they heard the door to the CIC open a few seconds later but ignored it. "First you destroy a Reaper, and then you survive a trip through the Omega 4 Relay, what do you for an encore? Take on a Thrasher Maw on foot wearing ladies underwear?" Drakus chuckled.

"Yeah, I didn't need that mental image Drakus." Andrea said with a wince, at that point a male voice cleared his throat and everyone turned around and noticed that Marcus had entered the room whilst they were talking.

"Not only that but Shepard didn't destroy the Reaper by himself, it took the combined might of the Destiny Ascension and the Alliance Fleet to take down one Reaper and as someone who lost a close family member during that attack I'd appreciate it if you kept that in mind." Marcus said clearly addressing Drakus.

"Well...this conversation got awkward pretty quickly." Andrea said, Marcus shook his head before turning to her.

"Forget it, I came in here to meet the new crewmembers, not make things awkward between the three of us." Marcus said before turning to the Commander. "Shepard, Williams wants a word with you in private and she's waiting for you in the Captain's quarters, I can show these two around the rest of the ship if you want?" Marcus offered, Shepard nodded and left the armoury, once he left he turned to the two of them. "Sorry about that, touchy subject matter, I'm Major Marcus Resoltio."

Whilst Andrea and Drakus introduced themselves Shepard made his way to the Captain's Quarters via the elevator, once it arrived Shepard entered the quarters and saw Ashley feeding the fish. "Ash, Marcus told me you wanted to talk to me." Ashley looked up and walked up to him.

"Commander...Jason...whatever you call yourself nowadays." Ashley said shaking her head. "I...I wanted to apologize for my behaviour on Horizon, my emotions where running high and..." Shepard interrupted her with a kiss on the lips.

"Apology accepted Ash." Ashley grinned and motioned to the bed.

"Do you want to join me Skipper?" Ashley grinned, Shepard nodded and they locked lips again before making their way to the bed.

*about an hour later*

Shepard woke up naked in bed next to a sleeping Ashley who was also naked, the sex had been wild but now Shepard was considering calling off the relationship due to what happened on Horizon even if Ashley had apologized, he got up and got dressed and once his shirt was on Ashley woke up and looked towards the Commander using the bedsheets to cover up her breasts.

"Good to see you're still as good as the last time we dropped down and gave each other 20." Ashley grinned but noticed the uncertainty on his face. "You don't think this relationship will work either, do you?"

"No Ash, you where amazing but...after what happened on Horizon..." Shepard trailed off and Ashley looked down sadly.

"I understand Commander, as far as the rest of the crew is concerned?" Ashley asks and Shepard folded his arms.

"What happened here never leaves this room." Shepard nodded as he looked out the window, he could clearly see Omega from here and it made him wonder how Andrea and Drakus could stand to live there, his thoughts were interrupted by EDI'S avatar popping up.

"Commander, the council just sent a new dossier." EDI said before logging off, Shepard shook his head with a laugh.

"AIS, they are always a mood killer." Shepard chuckled before going to the elevator. "I'll let you get dressed; I'll read the dossiers in the CIC." Shepard said before entering the elevator, when the elevator reached the CIC he approached his console slowly and read the new dossiers.

_Zee'Nah nar Fiyet__  
><em>_-Combat strategist__  
><em>_-Experienced in both short and long range weaponry__  
><em>_-Improvised weapon specialist___

_Zee'Nah nar Fiyet is a freelance mercenary that is known for his use of a wide variety of weapons. From improvised explosives to shotguns to the geth sniper rifle he is commonly seen with, Zee is a jack of all trades. Our sources indicate that Zee is on a job on a uncharted world in the Hawking Eta Cluster_

"_Another Quarian, I'm sure Tali would appreciate the company." _Shepard thought as he archived it, the next one caught him by surprise.

_Dsrondo B'Tallic_

_-Batarian mercenary_

_-Excellent shot_

_-Good relationship with humans_

_A Batarian combat veteran and former Blue Suns member, we were just as surprised when he contacted us but we're not about to turn down help, he was last seen on Ilium._

"_A Batarian? After I wiped out one of their colonies?"_ Shepard thought before archiving it, undoubtedly this was going to be incredibly awkward, that seemed to be the last of the dossiers so he went up to the Galaxy Map and set a course for the Shadow Broker base.

"Got the coordinates Commander." Joker called out from the cockpit. "Should be at the base in a few hours." Shepard said nothing and walked away from the Galaxy map deciding to check on the new crew members, he turned to EDI.

"EDI, where's Drakus and Andrea?" Shepard asked.

"Crewmember Andrea McKenzie is on the crew deck; Crewmember Urdnot Drakus is on the engineering deck." Shepard nodded and went up to the elevator, the doors opened and he passed a fully clothed Ashley on her way out, they looked at each other once before Ashley made her way to the Armoury, the elevator travelled down stopping at the crew deck and Shepard looked around before going to Andrea's room, the mercenary now had her hair down revealing it to be shoulder length but she was still in her armour. "Andrea, got a minute?" Andrea looked up.

"Oh Commander." She said sitting down on the bed. "Just getting settled in, finally moved all my stuff from my apartment to the Normandy." Andrea said, Shepard looked around seeing a laptop, an onmi-tool, numerous outfits and a black bag marked "do not open". "I had plenty of time to do so whilst you and Ashley went at it like rabbits."

"How did..." Shepard started.

"I didn't but I learned that you two used to be an item on the original Normandy from Garrus, we figured out the rest for ourselves once I mentioned that Ashley wanted to meet you in the crew's quarters." Andrea answered.

"If you must know we called it off." Shepard told her and she nodded in understanding. "We agreed that it would be for the best."

"Aye, I can understand that." Andrea said brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I've never been interested in a relationship anyway, didn't seem that fair with my line of work." Andrea added.

"What about Jenny's brother?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.

"Different time different place, I dated him when I was 18, besides I broke it off a few days before I left Earth." Andrea said crossing a leg over the other. "Besides since moving to Omega I've grown to accustomed to using my feminine charms to get guys, and girls occasionally, to help with the mission."

"In other words you slept with them." Shepard pointed out.

"Guilty as charged." Andrea admitted. "I don't care what you call me Shepard but let my clarify some points, I always wore a condom and I stopped by Mordin's clinic once every six months to get checked for STDS" She said reaching behind her and grabbing a piece of paper. "This is the test results from my last test which was done about six months ago, read it if you want." Shepard took it and read it, he recognised Mordin's handwriting almost immediately as Mordin had helped him write the report on the Mealon mission and he doubted Andrea had the ability to forge handwriting.

"STD free, that's good to know." Shepard said before pausing. "Not that I'm interested in you or anything."

"Why not?" She asked raising an eyebrow, "I mean yeah we've only known each other for a few hours...I just answered my own question haven't I?" Andrea said with a blush. "Forget I said anything, I don't think we'd make that good a couple anyway."

"That we can agree with." Shepard nodded. "I'd ask her myself but Jenny doesn't like talking about him, what can you tell me about her brother?"

"You want the brutally honest version?" Shepard shrugged and she locked the door with her onmi-tool. "He was a money grubbing jackass who'd do anything for a quick buck, even steal from his own sisters' bank accounts, I wish I was joking, he was what got me into thievery in the first place as he somehow convinced me that robbing an antiques store would be a fun idea, it went about as well as you'd expect."

"Is that why Jenny doesn't like talking about him?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.

"Quite the contrary, for some reason she stood by him no matter what, she was always a bit on the naive side but back then she made a Vorcha look like a rocket scientist due to her loyalty, based on the fact that she doesn't like talking about him I'd say it started going downhill between them when I fled from Earth." Andrea answered brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "He didn't exactly take the breakup well."

"So why did you break up? You could've stayed together and maybe even go to the Terminus Systems together?" Shepard pointed out.

"I did entertain that idea but he was too loyal to his youngest sibling, Sophie, to even consider that." Andrea said. "Not even that stopped him though, last I heard he cleared his sister's accounts and fled from Earth, he hasn't been seen since." Andrea said before pausing. "I wouldn't be surprised if Zach emptying their accounts was one of the reasons the McKansa sisters joined the Alliance in the first place."

"Certainly makes sense." Shepard agreed. "I don't want to upset Jenny so..."

"This conversation never leaves this room." Andrea nodded as Shepard stood up. "I've dealt with my fair share of paranoid freelancer contractors to be used to that by now."

"Right." Shepard nodded before he unlocked the door. "You should know that we're picking up a Batarian soon, a mercenary called Dsrondo." Shepard and Andrea looked at him like he had just declared himself to be the love child of the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause.

"A Batarian, you blew up one of their systems and they want you to pick up a Batarian? Sure why not? Why don't we pick up a Collector whilst we're at it?" Andrea shrugged and Shepard had to laugh at that one, he exited the room and saw that Jenny was enjoying a snack at the cafeteria and realized that he was hungry so he walked over to the table and sat down opposite Jenny.

"Rupert, can you get me something to drink?" Shepard said, Jenny looked up and looked at the Commander strangely. "What? The Commander isn't allowed to sit here?" He asked.

"No it's not that, it's just that Marcus rarely sat with the other crewmembers back on the Colony." Jenny answered. "Look if you want to tell me off for how I acted towards Andrea back on Omega than go ahead." Jenny said but Shepard shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, I know you two have a history and if it results in an argument between you two we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Shepard said as Rupert brought over a drink, he took it and took a sip. "So how are you finding the Normandy?"

"For a bunch of guys who used to be Cerberus members they are decent guys, then again my only exposure to Cerberus was when I stumbled across a Cerberus cell on my first day of patrol and for some reason thought I could take them on alone due to my biotics." Jenny said shaking her head. "I eventually got my head out of my ass long enough to call for backup, Marcus gave me an earful for not doing that to begin with."

"I gotta agree with him there, you suffer any injuries?" Shepard asked Jenny.

"Got shot in the shoulder and leg shortly after I picked up my radio to call for backup, so whoever was on the other end heard me scream several variants of "fuck" and "shit" before sending backup." Jenny laughed. "Wasn't the least bit fun but at least I got a few weeks off and that was when I met Roberts to boot."

"It was love at first sight." Marcus said walking off, Jenny was now blushing like a madwoman.

"I said it once and I'll say it again, WE WEREN'T AN ITEM!" Jenny said getting herself some odd looks from the other crewmembers. "Are you two on a secret mission to embarrass me to death or something?"

"If they where the Commander would be working A LOT harder than that." Rupert chimed in, Jenny groaned before double facepalming. "What about you Marcus?"

"Eh, I make do, being on the same ship as a Justicar, two Krogan, two mercs and a dying assassin will take some getting used to and DON'T get me started on Jack." Marcus sighed. "At least I'm making a difference for once, so any more dossiers?"

"Two, a Quarian and a Batarian." Shepard said at which point Jenny and Marcus looked at him funny. "Yeah Andrea had the same reaction."

"Sometimes I'll never understand what goes on in the minds of politicians." Marcus said shaking his head.

"I'll drink to that." Shepard agreed before finishing his drink. "I'm off to the Engineering Deck, if you want to chat with me you can find me down there." Shepard said before heading to the Elevator, he went down to the engineering deck and saw Drakus approaching Grunt's area of the ship. "Hey Drakus." Drakus turned around.

"Shepard." Drakus nodded. "Just getting accustomed to the ship, that male engineer nearly pissed himself when we sure me."

"I'm not surprised." Shepard shook his head. "May I talk to you for a minute?" Shepard asked. Drakus shrugged.

I

"I suppose you want to hear all about my adventures over the years." Drakus grumbled. "Well I nearly died several times during the Krogan Rebellions, that was fun, and then there was the time I was sterilized by the Turians, that was great..."

"Actually I wanted to get to know you better." Shepard interrupted him; Drakus looked at Shepard funny before shrugging.

"Why the hell not?" Drakus shrugged. "I've been a merc ever since the Rebellions, I have a son and an Asari daughter, my son works in the Blood Pack, the Asari works for C-Sec, yes I realize how odd that is, and my biotics can tear out a bulkhead in seconds." Drakus said bluntly.

"You're not very talkative." Shepard observed.

"Not used to chatting with people I work with outside of Andrea, and that's because she drank several Krogan under the table in a row." Drakus said and Shepard blinked.

"Wait, you expect me to believe that Andrea size drank several Krogan under the table?" Shepard asked.

"You'd have to see it to believe it." Drakus grumbled. "What else do you want to know?" Drakus asked.

"Tell me about your offspring." Shepard said and Drakus folded his arms.

"Hrasus, my son, doesn't share my biotic ability but he's a damn good soldier, as far as I'm concerned though his talent's being wasted in the Blood Pack, he could make ten times as much money as a freelancer." Drakus shook his head. "Korah's the offspring of a one night stand, I didn't meet her until she was well into her Maiden years, she's smart but she's a recovering drug addict, I had to call in a lot of favours to get her to stay as a C-Sec officer when that came to light, I paid for her to have a stint in rehab but time will tell if it works." Drakus said leaning against the wall. "I take care of my kids Shepard, and I'm not above looking out for people younger than me."

"That's most of the ship though." Shepard pointed out. "I included." When he realized that Drakus chuckled.

"I guess it is." Drakus grinned. "Tell you what, I'll keep an ear out for any issues that might affect the mission, I'm a people person who happens to be a Krogan Battlemaster so that will be easy."

"Thanks for the offer." Shepard nodded.

"Commander, we've almost arrived at the Shadow Broker base." Joker called out, Drakus blinked.

"The what?" Drakus deadpanned.

"Come on, I'll explain on the way." Shepard said leading him to the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

"So just to recap, not only are you friends with the Shadow Broker but she's an Asari Maiden, the daughter of Matriarch Bennezia, was once one of the crewmembers of the original Normandy and to top it all off you chose Ashley over her?" Andrea said as she, Shepard and Drakus left the Elevator, Shepard had stopped by the crews quarters to pick up Andrea for the mission and she was clearly not believing what she had heard on the way up. "Anything else you want to tell us?" She asked.

"I've told you enough already, if you want the full story I'll tell you later." Shepard told her and Andrea folded her arms, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Shepard, I'd ask how you managed to pull this off but considering you came back from the dead, defeated a Reaper and punched some reporter, twice, and got away with it I am passed the point of asking you how you pull off the impossible." Drakus pointed out as Andrea started tying her hair up in a ponytail, before Shepard could answer EDI'S avatar popped up.

"Shepard, I have detected an abnormally on the Shadow Broker's ship." EDI chimed in, Shepard turned to the AI.

"What do you mean by abnormally?" Shepard, Andrea and Drakus asked almost simultaneously.

"There is a ship already docked on the ship, it's security protocols match those used by Cerberus." Shepard frowned at this.

"How many Cerberus operatives are on board?" Shepard asked though he had a feeling that he already knew the answer.

"There are around 200 operatives in total." Shepard frowned at this and turned to Andrea and Drakus.

"Change of plans, EDI I need **everyone **to meet us at the hanger, we'll have a better chance at surviving the battle that way." Shepard instructed EDI whose avatar disappeared soon afterwards, Shepard turned to Andrea and Drakus. "Andrea, Drakus, I'm sorry that this mission won't be as easy as originally hoped." Shepard apologized but Drakus shook his head.

"Are you kidding? I've been working undercover for two weeks; it's about time I got to kick some ass!" Drakus said with a grin. "The fact that it's Cerberus agents that we'll be killing makes it that much better."

"Yeah but just as long as you remember to kick the asses of people who are currently serving as Cerberus Agents and not ex Cerberus Agents, like me, Shepard and Miranda." Jacob said joining them followed shortly by Mordin. "What does Cerberus want with the Shadow Broker anyway?" Jacob asked.

"Hmm, plenty of information on important individuals around galaxy could be used for extortion or blackmail. Assuming Shadow Broker identity could also give Cerberus almost unlimited resources. *Inward breath* Implications unfortunate." Mordin said in his typically fast style, Andrea blinked.

"Err, yeah what he said." Andrea said just as the elevator doors opened and the rest of the ground team came out. "I'd hate to imagine how cramped that elevator was." Andrea said glancing towards the rest of the crew.

"Speak for yourself, you didn't end up squashed behind Grunt." Jenny muttered as she approached them followed by Grunt and Samara.

"All right people, Liara TSoni AKA the shadow broker's base has been attacked by Cerberus personal, I think it's clear that they want to install a Cerberus operative as the new Shadow Broker and I don't need to tell you that that's the last thing that needs to happen." Shepard said folding his arms. "We'll split into two teams, Team 1 will be in charge of backing up any surviving Shadow Broker agents and will be entering from the exterior of the ship, that team will be led by Miranda, Team 2 will be lead by me and they will be in charge of making sure the Shadow Broker herself makes it out alive along with any data that we can salvage." Shepard said turning to EDI. "EDI, give me damage report on the Shadow Broker base."

"The ship has suffered superficial damage so far but I have detected several explosives planted along the interior and exterior of the ship, if they were to be detonated simultaneously the blast would be more than enough to destroy the ship." EDI said and Shepard frowned.

"Team 1, you'll be entering from the exterior of the ship so you take care of the explosives there, Team 2 will take care of the explosives on the inside of the ship, any volunteers to take out the explosives?" Shepard asked.

"Shepard Commander, this unit volunteers to take out the exterior explosives." Legion said stepping forward, Shepard looked towards Miranda.

"Do you have any objections Miranda?" Shepard asked his XO who shook her head. "Then Legion will join Team 1, any volunteers for my team?" Tali stepped forward but Andrea spoke up first.

"Shepard, quick question, I know this planet that the Broker's ship hangs around in is about as safe as a Krogan after a few thousand drinks but wouldn't the lightning fry Legion's, and by extension the explosives', electronics?" Andrea asked and Shepard shook his head.

"When I was last on the exterior there was massive lightning rods dotted along the exterior of the ship, somehow I doubt Liara was dumb enough to get rid of them." Shepard said before turning to Tali. "Your volunteering I take it?"

"No offense to the other crew members but I don't think they could disarm it as fast as I could." Tali said with a nod.

"Okay, here's who will come with me, the others will go with Miranda: Urdnot Drakus, Andrea McKenzie, Zaeed Masani, Jack, Kasumi, Ashley, Tali off course and Garrus." Everyone that was named by Shepard, save for Drakus, Tali and Andrea who were already standing near him, joined Shepard whilst the others joined Miranda. "Keep in radio contact as often as you can and don't be afraid to ask for backup if you can, I'm sure Liara will have some Shadow Broker agents in that case which reminds me, EDI." Shepard said turning to the AI. "Any info you can find on the Cerberus Cell that's attacking Liara?"

"None so far Shepard, I am searching Cerberus Databases for the appropriate information." EDI said and Shepard frowned.

"It looks like we're going in blind." Andrea muttered shaking her head. "It should be fun." She added with sarcasm clear in her voice.

"Those are pretty much my thoughts exactly Andrea." Shepard agreed before turning to Team 2. "Once we're done meet us at the control centre, I'll radio you directions Miranda." Shepard told her and Miranda nodded.

"Anything else Commander or will we finally get to kick some Cerberus ass?" Drakus asked, Shepard smiled at the Krogan and drew his mattock.

"Let's move out." Shepard ordered as he led his team in the airlock which was connected to the Shadow Broker's ship and Miranda led her team into the other not knowing what would await him on the Shadow Broker's base.

(OOC: Short I know but this is so I can dedicate two chapters to the two teams)


	6. Chapter 6

Shepard and his team entered the ship with their guns drawn, they where currently near the area where Feron was tortured when Shepard first arrived and they had, so far, encountered no resistance or any explosives but they knew that that would change soon.

"Shepard, are you sure that EDI was correct about Cerberus agents being on board the ship? I mean yeah it's an AI but they aren't right all the time." Andrea asked glancing around the ship.

"I'll be sure to mention that to Legion when we rejoin Team 2." Drakus grinned and Andrea rolled her eyes at that, Shepard was about to respond before he heard pain filled screams coming from the area where Feron was tortured. "You where saying?"

"No comment." Andrea said as they followed Shepard to the room, they saw three male humans in Cerberus gear torturing a fourth human, a female, using the device used on Feron when Shepard, Liara and Garrus found him, they made their way to the room keeping their guns drawn on the three Cerberus agents.

"Come on lady, all you need to tell us is your password to the Asari bitches' databases and all the pain will end." The leader spoke coldly.

"Go to hell." The woman spat accompanying the harsh words with a well timed spit in the Cerberus officer's face.

"Crank it all the way up, it's obvious we aint getting anything else out of..." The leader was cut off by a gunshot to the head from Andrea's Mattock, the other two agents turned around but quickly surrendered when they saw how outnumbered they were.

"Free her and we'll let you live." Shepard warned the two agents, the shorter of the two went to work freeing her whilst the taller of the two removed his helmet revealing a mess of dirty blonde hair.

"I never thought I'd thank a traitor to humanity's cause for anything." The man said with a gruff English accent. "But thanks for killing that asshole, he was a bit too torture happy for my tastes."

"Wait, Devon?" Ashley blinked upon recognising him, Shepard and the others gave her a funny look. "When the hell did you join Cerberus?"

"When the hell did you get along with aliens?" Devon retorted with a scoff. "For the rest of you, the name's Devon Radcliffe, Ex-Alliance soldier turned Cerberus operative."

"And you call Shepard a traitor?" Andrea was quick to point out; Devon rolled his eyes at that whilst behind him the other operative freed the woman.

"Don't speak of things you know nothing about." Devon growled before turning to Shepard. "We fulfilled our end of the bargain, are we free to go?"

"Not yet, we need to know how many other operatives are on the inside and where are the explosives?" Shepard asked.

"I can't help ya sorry to disappoint." Devon said as he started to leave, Drakus stepped in frount of them with his shotgun drawn.

"Can't, or won't?" Drakus said in a intimidating tone of voice, Devon narrowed his eyes at the much bigger Krogan and sighed.

"You know what? I'll throw you a bone." Devon said with a grunt before pointing to the other side of the room. "First explosive is over there, there's two more in the next room and the final ones are on the outside." Shepard turned to Tali who walked over to the explosive. "Watch yourself Shepard, that damn pickpocket might steal every credit you..." Drakus growled and kneed him in the stomach, Devon groaned in pain before he doubled over clutching his stomach in pain.

"I haven't known her for very but I won't let her be insulted, just be glad I chose to injure you and not take your head off with the shotgun." Drakus warned him.

"You're nothing but a typical Krogan brute." Devon said through gritted teeth. "Why do you care?"

"That's none of your damn business." Drakus said with hatred clear in his eyes. "Now stop insulting my intelligence and tell Shepard what he needs to know before I lose my patience, you have ten minutes before that happens." Drakus said pointing his shotgun at Devon's head.

"Ugh fine." Devon grunted turning to Shepard. "There's two more operatives in the next room, the rest of them are battling the current Shadow Broker, though if all goes to plan she won't be The Shadow Broker for much longer." Drakus holstered his gun and turned away from him.

"Was that so difficult? The Krogan mocked. "You two had better get out of here before I lose my patience." He warned the remaining Cerberus operatives and they quickly left.

"Shepard, the explosive is defused." Tali said approaching them glaring at the Cerberus operatives as they left. "And thank you Drakus for putting that boshtet in his place."

"Think nothing of it." Drakus said dismissively as the woman got to her feet. "Are you injured?" Drakus asked turning to the woman, a blonde woman with shoulder length hair and blue eyes.

"I'll live." The woman said with a grunt. "Thanks for rescuing me; I wasn't exactly the first Shadow Broker operative to be interrogated by them." She said motioning to a previously unnoticed pile of dead bodies in the corner. "Who are you?"

"I'm Commander Shepard; I'm a friend of Liara's." Shepard said stepping forward. "What happened here?"

"It all happened so fast, me and the rest of my squad where patrolling the ship when those Cerberus operatives boarded, they where lead by an Australian man, around your height with dark hair." She said pointing to Shepard. "I didn't need to listen to him talk to know that he was insane, whilst he kept us captive he kept ranting about how the galaxy rightfully belonged to humanity with him as the sole leader, it was obvious that his subordinates disagreed with him but they didn't want to risk pissing him off so they said nothing." The woman said shaking her head. "He also said that the first step to what he called a "perfect galaxy" was to install himself as the Shadow Broker."

"We get it; he was nuttier than a fruitcake and had a lust for power." Kasumi said. "We overheard them say that they wanted access to the databases, please tell me "Go to Hell" wasn't the password."

"No, truth is only Liara knows the password but those idiots didn't listen." She shook her head. "I'm just glad that Turian Spectre managed to get away." She added causing everyone else to do a double take.

"Turian Spectre?" Shepard blinked as the information went through his brain. "Liara has a Spectre on her side?"

"Yeah, Tidosis Mirani, she helps out Liara with getting information and in return she helps her with missions." The woman said leaning against a bulkhead. "She's one of the best sniper's I've ever seen and a damn good shot at that."

"I appreciate the complement Susan." A female Turian voice came from behind them; Shepard and his squad turned around and saw a female Turian with greyish scales. "Commander Shepard, what an unexpected honour to meet the hero of the Citadel." Tidoses said extending a hand out to the Commander who accepted it with some hesitation. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner Susan, I had to battle my way through several Cerberus agents." Susan shook her head and Tidoses turned to Shepard. "Liara is well aware of the Reaper invasion Commander, she is willing to help in as many ways as she can and so am I for that matter."

"That's good to know but I have a question, how did you and Liara meet?" Shepard asked, before Tidoses could answer a squad of Cerberus agents entered the room with their guns drawn.

"Tell you what Commander; we'll play 20 questions when the excitement's over." Tidoses said drawing her Widow Sniper Rifle.

"That sounds good to me." Shepard said before turning to Susan. "Susan, get to cover now." He ordered, Susan didn't need to be told twice and hid behind the chair as the Cerberus operatives opened fire, Shepard and his squad returned fire with assistance from Tidoses and after a gruelling battle Shepard and his squad won despite some minor injuries. "So, what do we do now?"

"When I last sure Liara she was fighting off Cerberus operatives with Feron in the main chambers, I would've stayed to help her but the Ship's scanners detected the Normandy approaching and she told me to help you in any way I can, so here I am." Tidoses explained. "And before you ask I won't betray you like Tela did on Ilium, she may of been a talented biotic but she wasn't above selling her ethics to the highest bidder."

"So I noticed." Shepard said standing up. "Anyone injured?" Everyone else shook their heads and Shepard turned to Andrea. "Andrea, I need you to accompany Tali to the room over there, based on Devon's description it can't be that big."

"No offence Shep but I don't think he's the most trustworthy guy in the galaxy." Andrea pointed out.

"Neither do I but it's better than nothing, we'll cover you." Shepard reassured her and Andrea motioned for Tali to follow her.

"So Tali, how long have you known the Commander for?" Andrea asked once they where away from the rest of the squad.

"Since I served on the original Normandy, he helped me complete my pilgrimage and defeat a charge of treason from the Migrant Fleet, if I had been found guilty as I originally asked him I would've been exiled but instead he put the admiralty board in their place." Tali said as the two women approached the room.

"It sounds like the Commander takes care of his crew." Andrea commented as she started hacking the door. "Think he could do a similar favour for me?" Andrea asked and Tali shrugged.

"I wouldn't put it past him, why do you ask?" Tali asked and this time it was Andrea's turn to shrug her shoulders.

"No reason." Andrea lied, this wasn't something she liked discussing in public, the doors opened and she drew her mattock. "Ready when you are." Andrea said as Tali drew her Geth Plasma Shotgun.

"Let's do it." Tali nodded as she entered the room, there where Cerberus agents in there but there was one detail that Devon neglected to mention: hostages, two in total an Asari and a Salarian, Andrea and Tali pointed their guns at the Cerberus agents. "Let them go." She warned.

"Or what will you do? Nag me to death?" One of the Cerberus agents said shortly before panicking. "Crap, where did I put my ammo?" Andrea just stood there with a look of disbelief on her face.

"How long have you been without any ammo?" The other agent asked.

"Err, since we arrived." The agent said and Andrea facepalmed.

"And you somehow took two people who I'm assuming are armed." Andrea muttered, she didn't let him finish as she turned to his partner. "Would he be missed if we gunned him down?" The other agent shook his head and Andrea took the dumb one out with a gunshot wound to the head whilst Tali gunned down the other. "Tali pass the word around when we get back that I'll be drinking to forget his stupidity."

"I think I may join you." Tali responded with a nod as she started disarming the bomb whilst Andrea untied the Salarian and the Asari.

"You guys okay?" Andrea asked the two of them as Tali finished disarming the first bomb and moved towards the other bomb.

"We're fine, thank you." The Salarian answered. "They were going to interrogate me next but I'm guessing they never finished off Susan." Andrea nodded and the Salarian sighed in relief.

"Unfortunately we didn't arrive in time to save the others." Tali told them as she disarmed the last bomb.

"I had the feeling that was the case." The Asari sighed as Andrea helped her up followed by the Salarian. "Who else is left?"

"Tidoses, Susan and whoever Liara has with her in the control room." Tali said as the Salarian stroked his chin.

"That would be Feron and a small squad of Shadow Broker agents, she should be in good hands but they'll need your help, we'd help but they took our weapons and I have no idea where they are." The Salarian said.

"Let's go, I'm sure the Commander will think of something." Andrea said to Tali and the two Shadow Broker agents and the four of them returned to Shepard. "Commander, the explosives in that room are defused but what Devon didn't mention was that they where keeping Shadow Broker agents in there."

"Are you two injured?" Shepard asked the two Shadow Broker agents who shook their heads. "What about you two?" He asked turning to Tali and Andrea.

"Considering one of the agents was dumb enough to forget to bring his ammo?" Andrea asked and she could've sworn that she had heard Drakus facepalming.

"You're not kidding, aren't you?" Shepard asked and the two women shook their heads. "Regardless we should assist Liara and whoever she has left with her, can you three hold down the fort here?"

"I'm still a bit weak from the interrogation but I'll live." Susan said and the Salarian and Asari grabbed the guns from two of the dead Shadow Broker agents.

"See you on the other side." The Salarian said as Shepard and his team made their way to the control room, when they entered Liara and Feron where fighting a squad of Shadow Broker agents, they grabbed behind the overturned desk that Liara and Feron where using as their cover.

"Shepard, I would ask what you are doing here but we need all the help we can get." Liara said once she saw him.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Shepard asked.

"Liara was giving orders to the Shadow Broker agents when the alarms went off, we identified it as a Cerberus vessel and initially we thought it was you, obviously that isn't the case." Feron said before firing on the Cerberus agents. "We've been fighting for our lives ever since."

"We were however able to identify the leader." Liara said pointing to a man at the front of the crowd of Cerberus agents. "Jack Hastings, he's a Cerberus cell leader with delusions of grandeur."

"We figured that part ourselves." Tidoses said but before anyone could say anything else a massive explosion rocked the ship.

"What the hell was that?" Andrea said out loud.


	7. Chapter 7

Whilst Shepard's team explored the inside of the ship the team led by Miranda exited the Hammerhead ready for their part of the mission, some team members (namely Jenny) were unhappy about being on the outside of the ship due to the weather but they knew that there was no use in complaining as they had their orders.

"Legion, do your scanners pick up any explosives?" Miranda asked as she led the team, behind her where Marcus and Jacob with Jenny just behind them alongside Legion and Mordin with Samara and Grunt bringing up the rear.

"Negative Operative Lawson, however the adverse weather conditions are having negative effects on this unit's sensors." Legion said electing an audible groan from Jenny.

"Yeah just what I needed, yet another reason for me too hate the weather." Jenny moaned before shaking her head. "Can you work around it?"

"Affirmative, but it will take time." Legion answered as the team of eight advanced, around five seconds later a pair of combat drones appeared.

"Combat drones, they must think we're debris from the storm." Miranda said as she overloaded one of them and Legion finished off the other. "Stay alert; things can only get more difficult from here." Miranda ordered as she led the team.

"God, why the hell did Jack order us up here? It's not like anyone will be dumb enough to attempt to enter the ship from here." They overheard a male Cerberus agent moan to his companion as they rounded a corner.

"Actually we're dumb enough to enter from the outside...wait let me rephrase that." Jenny answered; the others pointed their guns at the Cerberus agents who pointed their guns back at them.

"Don't come any closer or we'll..." The Cerberus agent started but Miranda cut him off with a gunshot to the head.

"Do you want to try your luck?" She asked turning to the Cerberus agent's companion, he fired once but the shot bounced off of Miranda's shields and Marcus put him down with a shotgun blast. "Legion over here, I've found an explosive." Miranda said as she spotted an explosive near a lightning rod, Legion pushed through the crowd and started defusing the bomb.

"I heard gunshots coming from over here." Another Cerberus agent called out and the rest of the squad turned around to see a squad of ten Cerberus agents approaching them.

"I knew this was too easy." Miranda muttered. "Don't let them get close to Legion, take them out as quickly as possible." Those were the only instructions Miranda gave to the rest of the squadmates and that was all the orders they needed as they were quick to grab whatever cover they could as did the Cerberus agents, Miranda's crew where less concerned about killing the agents as they were more concerned with buying Legion enough time to defuse the bomb. "McKansa, there's a Cerberus agent approaching on your right."

"I see him." Jenny said firing up her biotics and firing a charge at the Cerberus agent sending him flying back, Jenny didn't give him a chance to recover as she fired a shot from her Mattock that connected with the top of the agent's head, the remaining agents fired at her but her shields absorbed the shots that made contact before she was able to return to her cover, Marcus fired upon the other agents and they ducked behind cover, Jenny followed it up with a shockwave forcibly bringing two of the agents out of cover, Samara suspended them with her biotics allowing Marcus to pick them off easily, Grunt came out of cover and charged the remaining agents once he was behind their cover knocking over three of them, Grunt took two of the Cerberus agents' heads off with shotgun blasts before the remaining one tried a cheapshot, however he didn't count on Grunt's fortification power and Grunt fired his shotgun into his abdomen sending him flying back before landing against the wall, he was dead soon afterwards and the four remaining Cerberus agents tried firing at him but made the mistake of standing up to do so leaving them open to fire from the rest of the squad, the remaining Cerberus agents where dead and the squad stood up.

"The explosive has been defused." Legion announced standing up, they heard the sounds of more gunfire from just ahead of their current location and Miranda motioned for the rest to follow her, they located the source of the gunshots and saw three Shadow Broker agents, an Asari, a Krogan and a human male with black hair and blue eyes hid behind cover as they were fired upon by Cerberus agents, Miranda's team soon joined them and the Asari breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank the goddess, I never thought backup would arrive...wait your not Shadow Broker agents." The Asari realized.

"No but we're mutual friends, let's put it that way." Marcus said firing upon the Cerberus agents. "What's the quickest route to the inside of the ship?"

"It's behind those agents; to make matters worse they've planted a big bomb on the side of the ship." The Krogan answered motioning to the agents and the bomb. "Thomas here tried to disarm it remotely but he ran into a complication."

"That's an understatement." The human spoke up. "The bomb's rigged to go off automatically if anyone tries to disarm it; I think the only way we could get past it is if we had a Quarian on our side."

"What about a Geth will that do?" Miranda asked motioning to Legion.

"I guess it could work." Thomas said stroking his chin. "However even with a Geth it would take a significant amount of time."

"Then we'd better buy him some time." The Krogan said firing upon the Cerberus agents as Legion started hacking away at the bomb being as careful as a Geth could be to not set it off, things were going well until...

"There is a problem." Legion said about ten minutes into the battle, the Cerberus agents had been reduced to a small handful that where near the bomb and the squad turned to Legion.

"I just know I'm going to regret asking this but what kind of..." Jenny started but was cut off by the bomb going off taking the Cerberus agents with it, "Me and my big mouth."

"EDI, we need a damage report on the Shadow Broker base." Miranda shouted into her earpiece.

"The explosion caused significant damage to the hull off the ship; it will crash in about ten minutes." EDI said and everyone shared a look.

"Everyone get inside the ship, we must regroup with Shepard and get the hell out of here." Miranda said standing up, as the group made its way to the entrance Miranda put a hand to her earpiece. "Shepard, its Miranda one of the bombs on the outside of the ship has gone off we are coming to meet up with your team." Miranda informed Shepard as they entered the ship, the inside of the ship wasn't in that good a condition either and they saw the corpses of the Salarian broker agent, the Asari broker agent and Susan undoubtedly caught in the blast, they rejoined Shepard's squad just as the remaining Cerberus Agents made a run for it. "Shepard, I don't think I need to tell you how valuable the information contained on this base is."

"Agreed, EDI start downloading all the information in the Shadow Broker's database, we're getting out of here." Shepard said standing up as he did.

"Shepard, there won't be enough time to download all the information, at most I can recover 60 percent of the information." EDI announced and Shepard frowned.

"That'll have to do." Shepard said...just as the Cerberus agents returned with backup. "It's never that simple is it."

"KILL THEM! DON'T LET THEM STEAL WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE!" Jack shouted at the other Cerberus agents, at that point Thomas, the surviving Asari and the Krogan turned to Shepard.

"You go, we'll hold down the fort here." Thomas said and the other two agents nodded in agreement, Shepard could tell that there wasn't going to be anyway to convince them otherwise and he, Liara, Tidoses, Feron and both teams made a break for the hanger, the Cerberus agents tried firing at them but the three Shadow Broker agents fired suppressing fire at them, soon Shepard's squad plus Liara, Tidoses and Feron reached the ship.

"Joker, get us out of here now." Shepard ordered the pilot who didn't need to be told twice as he detached the Normandy from the crashing ship and flew away from the planet. Shepard and the squad watched as the ship crashed. "EDI, tell us how much data where you able to save?"

"I'm afraid that I was only able to save 40 percent of the data." The AI said and Liara's eyes widened in shock.

"All that data, century's worth of intel, information that could topple governments in the wrong hands, gone in an instant." Liara said clearly shocked. "I will be able to reconstruct the data bur it will take time, even with every Shadow Broker agent in my employ working around the clock." Liara added turning to Tidoses and Feron before turning to Shepard. "If it's okay with you I want Feron and Tidoses with me on the Normandy Shepard."

"That's fine, I have a call to make in the meantime, Miranda I need you to show them around the ship whilst I'm making this call." Shepard commanded, Miranda did so and Shepard made his way to the briefing room. "Patch the Illusive Man through Joker."

"But you said..." Joker started.

"Do it." Shepard said plainly, he was soon patched through to the Illusive Man and the enigmatic leader of Cerberus didn't look to happy.

"Shepard, do you have any idea what you have done?" The Illusive Man asked him as he took a whiff of his cigarette.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, thanks to you we have lost the majority of the Shadow Broker's intel and now the fight against the Reapers will be much more difficult." Shepard said, The Illusive Man stood up and marched towards Shepard.

"No, it's because of you, if we had a human Shadow Broker on our side then there's no telling what humanity could've accomplished." The Illusive Man said assertively and Shepard narrowed his eyes. "But still, the fact that you where able to save most of the data is a good sign."

"We have the Shadow Broker on our side already, not only that but she is someone I can trust, your idea of the ideal Shadow Broker was a delusional madman." Shepard growled. "But I guess that's an improvement over an Alien in your eyes."

"Cerberus is doing whatever it can to make sure that those stuck on Earth get the help they need against the Reapers, it's not easy but we are doing what we can." The Illusive Man said taking another whiff. "Speaking of the Reapers, your new crew members' are going to need to have potential issues dealt with."

"More loyalty missions in other words." Shepard said narrowing his eyes. "For once we agree but for now my focus is on building a team and if you interfere with my friends again I'll hunt you down to the ends of the galaxy."

"Is that a threat?" The Illusive Man asked angrily.

"No, it's a warning." Shepard said before cutting the connection. "Joker, set a course for Tuchanka." Shepard ordered.

"You got it Commander." Joker responded, Shepard left the briefing room and sighed, he was angry at The Illusive Man for interfering but he was right, he needed to make sure that the new crewmembers had their unfinished business dealt with.


	8. Chapter 8

Andrea lay back first on the bed in her quarters staring up at the ceiling, it had been two hours since the attack on the Shadow Broker base and Shepard was taking her and the rest of the crew to Tuchanka to pick up another Krogan, she on the other hand had more personal thoughts on her mind.

"Hey Andy, are you in here?" Jenny called out to Andrea using her much hated nickname from her youth, Andrea groaned and sat up.

"Aye, and didn't I tell you how much I hate that nickname." Andrea said using her biotics to grab a hairbrush, she started brushing her hair and the younger woman blinked.

"No need to get so snappy at me." Jenny said folding her arms. "You do know that it's dinner time right?"

"Not hungry." Andrea said dismissively as she finished straightening out her hair. "Why? Did Shepard send you to check up on me when he wasn't taunting you about your recently deceased boyfriend?"

"I'm not even going to respond to that." Jenny shook her head as she turned to leave the room. "I'll let Rupert know." Jenny said before leaving.

"Whatever." Andrea muttered under her breath as she grabbed her laptop in order to check for any news from Earth, she heard the door open again and groaned. "Jenny I thought I told you I wasn't hungry." Andrea said not bothering to look up.

"Do I look like an 18 year old Alliance soldier? Or even a human for that matter?" Drakus said making Andrea jump. "Sorry, just wanted to check up on ya, you haven't eaten since leaving the Shadow Broker base."

"You just noticed?" Andrea muttered sarcastically.

"Well you do eat a lot." Drakus pointed out.

"It's a side effect of being a biotic." She shrugged as she typed away at her laptop. "Besides you're a biotic yourself."

"Yeah but Krogans eat a lot regardless of whether or not they are biotics." Drakus pointed out. "You sure you're not hungry?"

"I'm as sure as Krogans are ugly...no offence." Andrea said brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"No offence taken." Drakus said with a shrug. "Andrea. I've known you almost as long as Jenny's known you, if you have something on your mind you can talk to me."

"It's personal Drakus, that's all I'm saying." Andrea said looking to the side. "And I've found what I was looking for, a list of humans successfully escorted from Earth since the Reaper invasion."

"You found that online?" Drakus asked confused.

"You can find most stuff online, if you know where to look." Andrea said before pausing. "Unfortunately that also applies to the more extreme versions of porno." Andrea added with a shudder.

"Point taken, so, if you don't mind me asking, whose name are you looking for?" Drakus asked and Andrea paused again, then she paled when she saw a name on the list. "You found what you where looking for."

"Aye, Elizabeth McKenzie." She nodded closing her laptop, Drakus blinked.

"Elizabeth? Isn't that your mother's name?" Drakus realized, he was the only person in the galaxy that Andrea trusted enough to talk openly about her mother.

"Yeah..." Andrea trailed off. "You know what? Screw it; I'll have something to eat." Drakus blinked at this.

"I know your mother's a touchy subject but why the sudden change of heart?" Drakus asked scratching his massive head.

"I'm hungry, is there an intergalactic law against that?" Andrea asked rhetorically. "Unless, of course, you finished all of it before the other crewmembers could eat the food."

"That was only one time!" Drakus asserted but by then Andrea had already left her quarters, by now most of the crew had returned to their stations save for Shepard, Ashley and Jenny, Andrea sat down next to Shepard and Rupert looked up at her.

"About damn time, what can I get ya?" Rupert asked Andrea who shrugged.

"Surprise me." Andrea said with a shrug and Rupert started searching through the food supplies for something for Andrea to eat.

"Is there something on your mind Andrea?" Shepard asked catching her by surprise, she blinked before shaking her head.

"Not much." She admitted. "Why do you ask?"

"You just seem distracted." Shepard pointed out, she shrugged her shoulders as Rupert started preparing something for her.

"It's nothing, really." Andrea said before thinking back to the conversation she had with Tali during the attack on the Shadow Broker base. "Okay there is something on my mind but it's not something I want to discuss in public."

"How about we discuss it after dinner then?" Shepard offered just as Rupert brought her food over, it wasn't much, just a plate of fries with some ketchup on the side but Andrea dug in regardless.

"Look Shepard, this isn't something I like discussing with people, hell the only other person who knows is Drakus and possibly Liara what with her being the Shadow Broker and all." She said once she swallowed one of the fries.

"I understand but it's not healthy to keep things like this bottled up, unless you want me to ask Liara about it..." Shepard started, Andrea sighed in resignation.

"Fine, we'll talk after dinner." She sighed, once she cleared the plate she waited for Shepard to finish and once he did she led Shepard to her quarters, once they were inside Andrea sat down on the bed. "I guess I should apologize for starters, I lied when I said that Jenny's brother got me into thievery, it's actually the opposite."

"That's it?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head. "So if Zach didn't get you into thievery, who did?"

"My mother that's who, she was a career criminal herself and when she found out that I had biotic talents she arranged for me to get biotic implants but she only did that because she thought that having a biotic on her side would help her with future robberies once I, alongside my biotics, had matured enough." Andrea said shaking her head; Shepard frowned when he realized just how bad that must've been for her.

"That can't of been easy for you, where is she now?" Shepard asked and it was Andrea's turn to frown.

"She's in Prison, serving a life sentence for murdering a store clerk during a botched robbery attempt." Andrea explained with a sigh. "I've hated her ever since." That part caught Shepard off guard.

"Wait, you hate your mother because she is serving a life sentence?" Shepard blinked. "There has to be more to it than that."

"Aye, you want to know how young I was when she was arrested." Andrea said but didn't give Shepard a chance to finish. "I was seven years old at the time, barely two weeks removed from my seventh birthday; her mistakes landed her in jail for the rest of her life and me in foster care for the rest of my childhood." Andrea said with rage clear in her voice.

"Where was your father during all this?" Shepard asked.

"Never met him, my mother raised me alone and never mentioned him, her closest family member was an aunt who lived on Horizon but her failing health, not to mention the distance from Earth to the colony." Andrea explained. "And no I was never adopted either, I was labelled a troublemaker by the orphanage's staff members, for good reason in hindsight, and prospective parents were worried about the stigma attached to adopting the child of a convicted murderer." Andrea added sensing Shepard's impending question.

"No offence but I'm not sure if I blame them or not." Shepard said and Andrea shook her head.

"Shepard, the only crimes I committed up to that point where petty crimes but that didn't matter to them." Andrea said shaking her head. "Any way you look at it its guilt by association and I was glad when I finally moved out of that dump."

"It couldn't off been that bad." Shepard said sitting down. "You still stayed there until you where to old to live there."

"That's only because I had nowhere else to go." Andrea shrugged. "The orphanage they stuck me in was the closest one to where I used to live which was pretty much my only request, and mistake in hindsight."

"Here's what I don't understand, despite all that you're surprisingly well adjusted." Shepard pointed out and Andrea laughed.

"Shepard, just because I was a petty thief with a murderer for a mum doesn't mean I was stupid, since my mother was more interested in stealing anything NOT tied down to actually raise her own daughter I pretty much raised myself, Jenny's parents helped and that was how I met Zach." Andrea said before shaking her head. "Basically Shepard the reason I'm so well adjusted despite all that is because I learned to look after myself."

"If you don't mind me asking why did the McKansa's help you?" Shepard asked, at that moment the door opened and Jenny entered catching the tail end of Shepard's sentence.

"Oh, err, sorry I didn't realize you two where..." Jenny trailed off clearly embarrassed, she started rubbing the back of her head. "If you want me to leave I'll do so, I was hoping to talk to Shepard anyway."

"What do you know Commander? Since breaking up with Ashley you've become a chick magnet." Andrea joked getting a laugh out of Shepard.

"Ha, ha, very funny, oh how hilarious." Jenny muttered sarcastically. "And you tell me to stop doing stand up comedy."

"We get it, you didn't like the joke." Andrea said rolling her eyes. "They basically helped me because they saw the writing on the wall so to speak."

"Meaning that my parents knew it was a matter of time before her mother did something stupid." Jenny interjected. "Sorry, I was just worried that Andrea would skirt around the issue."

"I've been brutally honest about my life throughout this conversation but thanks anyway." Andrea said bluntly, she stood up and went to leave. "Kid if you want to talk with Shepard knock yourself out, I'm going to see what Drakus is up too."

"Actually this may concern you as well." Andrea stopped in her tracks at Jenny's words and turned around. "More pacifically it's about Zach." Andrea blinked.

"First I'm willing to give my life story to Shepard and now you want to talk about your brother, did hell freeze over whilst I wasn't looking?" Andrea joked before sitting back down.

"Nah, day that happens is the day that the Krogan get a embassy on the Citadel." She responded before turning to Shepard. "You know something happened between me and Zach, well now you need to know the truth."

"I know he was a money grubber if that's what you mean." Shepard said folding his arms, Jenny blinked before shaking her head.

"That, whilst true, wasn't what I wanted to talk about." Jenny shook her head. "To say that I was being less than truthfull about Zach is a bit of an understatement, you already know the basics, namely the fact that a certain someone broke up with him before leaving for the Terminus Systems."

"How many damn times are you going to bring that up?" Andrea asked annoyed.

"About a million more times." Jenny shrugged before turning to Shepard. "He was never the same after that, when he wasn't arguing with my dad he was arguing with me, when he wasn't arguing with me he was arguing with Kate, when he wasn't arguing with Kate..."

"We get it, he liked to argue, where are you going with this?" Andrea cut her off.

"It came to a head after me, Sophie and Kate joined the Alliance, Zach hates the Alliance for what our grandfather went through we argued for days up until I was set to be sent to boot camp, I checked my account on the way over as dad had said that he put some money in our accounts for our first shore leave but..." Jenny started.

"Zach cleared them out didn't he?" Andrea interrupted, Jenny nodded but sighed.

"That's not the worse part, he left Earth to go to the Terminus Systems, and last I heard he had joined the Eclipse mercenary group and the group he's in has taken over a mining facility, using the workers there for slave labour." Jenny bit her lip. "Commander, I'd understand if this is a bit much to ask but could the Normandy go to the mining facility so I could try to talk some sense into him?"

"Send the coordinates to Joker; we'll get there as soon as we can." Shepard told her, the two women blinked in surprise as what the Commander said dawned on them.

"Seriously? Thanks Commander, I appreciate it, really." Jenny said as the surprise wore off, she left the room and Andrea turned to him.

"I didn't think you'd be willing to do that Shepard." Andrea commented once the door was closed. "You know, due to the attack on Earth and all."

"I understand your confusion." Shepard said folding his arms. "But I need the crew at their best for when we do return to Earth and if this mission secures Jenny's commitment then our chances against the Reapers will improve tenfold, besides those minors need our help." Shepard said as he started to leave.

"Wait, Shepard." Andrea called out to her Commander catching his attention. "Could I ask for a similar favour?"

"I'm all ears." Shepard said sitting back down again.

"You know how I mentioned earlier that I never met my father? I would like a chance to change that." Andrea said bluntly. "I've been chasing down leads it between jobs but it hasn't been easy and I'd ask Liara but..."

"I understand." Shepard nodded in understanding. "If nothing else asking Liara for help will point us in the right direction but since most of the data has been lost we won't get a definitive match."

"That's fine; I'd rather meet my father face to face anyway." Andrea said standing up, she followed Shepard out of her quarters and to Liara's quarters which she ended up sharing with Kasumi , now the room was one part Kasumi's quarters, one part Shadow Broker base, Kasumi, Tidoses and Feron were out of the room at the moment but Liara was hard at work at a terminal.

"Liara, you have a minute?" Shepard asked, the Asari looked up and saw the two humans and frowned.

"I wish I did Commander but reconstructing the lost data is easier said than done." Liara said.

"It won't take to long, it's just simple fact checking." Andrea said folding her arms.

"I see, I hope you realize that the information you want won't be complete." Liara said, Andrea nodded and Liara turned to the terminal. "What do you want to know?"

"I need you to check if any prison guards who served at this prison around the time that Elizabeth McKenzie was first arrested, in 2163 to be precise, who would now be old enough to be my dad, match this description and are still alive." Andrea said forwarding the relevant data to Liara's onmi-tool, she scanned the data and smiled.

"This should be easy enough; Earth is the one area of the Galaxy that I didn't lose any data on." Liara said typing in the relevant data. "There are three possible matches, one died from cancer around the time that Elizabeth was incarcerated, the other was killed in a car crash a week into her incarceration and the last..." Andrea bit her lip anticipating another dead end. "Is alive and quit his job after Elizabeth's release, he now serves as a C-Sec officer; however he changed his name before changing jobs for some reason and I don't know what his current alias is." Andrea sighed in relief.

"Good enough for me, what was his name before he changed his name?" Andrea asked, Liara checked the information again.

"Thomas Redmond." Liara said forwarding the data to Andrea's onmi-tool. "I hope the information is helpful Andrea."

"Yeah, I agree with you there." Andrea agreed after confirming that the information had been transferred. "Thanks Liara, this means a lot to me."

"I am glad I could help." Liara nodded.

"Andrea, would you mind giving us a few minutes?" Shepard asked, Andrea nodded and left the room, once the door was closed he turned to Liara. "How are you finding the new Normandy?" Shepard asked.

"Can I be perfectly honest with you? With the data lost in the crash it feels as if I'm back on Ilium chasing down leads, at least now I have you and the Shadow Broker agents in my employ to help me, as for the ship the crew members have been nice to me and it was good to see Drakus again." Liara confessed and Shepard blinked.

"Drakus did jobs for you in the past?" Shepard asked.

"I guess he forgot to mention that but yes, he briefly worked on Ilium a couple of years ago, I needed someone to get information on the Shadow Broker, he needed the work, it was a match made in Heaven, without the sex of course." Liara said as she typed away at the terminal.

"Did he get you the information you needed?" Shepard asked.

"That and a lot more, according to him he had a friend who was a Shadow Broker agent who owed him money; I offered to pay him more for the extra info but he declined, said that he was in it for battles rather than money." Liara said.

"And I still am." Drakus said as he entered. "Sorry Commander but I wanted to say hi to Liara, and ask a favour of you."

"Did you talk to Andrea or Jenny in the past five minutes?" Shepard asked, the old Krogan blinked in surprise.

"Actually no, I was talking to Grunt down in the engineering deck about his Rite of Passage, he said that you took him there as a favour before the Collector mission which made me think." Drakus said folding his arms. "You remember how I mentioned my son Hrasus and that he's in the Blood Pack? The Blood Pack base he was stationed on went silent whilst we were on the Shadow Broker's ship, that usually means one of two things, a rival merc group attacked the base or some of the local wildlife attacked them."

"The Blood Pack is mostly Krogan, why would the local wildlife attack them?" Shepard asked.

"The world he's stationed on is a lot like Tuchanka, minus the nuclear winters, several species have tried inhabiting the planet, Asari, Turian, Salarian, Batarian, Drell, and each and every time the local wildlife slaughtered them, eventually the council wised up and declared the area a No Fly zone, hasn't stopped merc gangs from setting up shop there though." Drakus said and Liara blinked.

"Usually when a planet's declared a No Fly zone they send a small fleet to form a blockade around the relay that leads to the planet, why haven't they tried it with that planet?" Liara asked.

"A valid point but I did some research into it, the council considers the relay to be too far out to be worth the trouble, and it's in the Terminus Systems to boot so..." Drakus started.

"They can't send a fleet there without starting a intergalactic war." Shepard interrupted.

"That's exactly right." Drakus nodded. "Joker already has the coordinates, just give the word Commander and you will have my loyalty."

"We will go there as soon as possible." Shepard nodded, Drakus grinned broadly at this.

"Thank you Shepard, personally I recommend bringing Grunt with us, the local wildlife might prove troublesome for someone like Jenny." Drakus said.

"That's a good point; I'll decide when we get there though." Shepard said Drakus turned on his heel and left the room satisfied with the outcome of the conversation, Shepard turned to Liara. "Sorry about that."

"It's not a problem Shepard, making sure that the new crew's minds are clear for the mission ahead is very important." Liara said with a nod. "As for Tidoses and Feron, I'm not sure if I saw a look as priceless as the look on Garrus' face when he realized Tidoses was a Spectre, other than that they are getting along well."

"That reminds me, how did you and Tidoses meet?" Shepard asked.

"I suppose that is a question worth answering, shortly after I became the Broker one of my agents was contacted by Tidoses, she was looking for information relevant to the mission given to her by the Council namely tracking down a Batarian slave ring that had kidnapped a Turian diplomat who was visiting a human colony that was attacked by the Batarians." Liara started. "Every lead the Council had given her had led to a dead end, out of desperation she contacted me through an agent, I was able to point her in the right direction and since then she has become a trusted agent, of both me and the council."

"I'm surprised that you're willing to work with a Spectre after what happened with Tela back on Ilium." Shepard pointed out.

"I admit that initially I had my doubts about working with her but if she did want to betray me she would've done so years ago." Liara said and Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know that for sure?" Shepard asked.

"Because those where he exact words when I told her about the incident with Tela and about my doubts about working with a Spectre." Liara said reassuringly. "Besides that I am trying to figure out who leaked the location of my former base to Cerberus."

"You think it's an inside job?" Shepard asked and Liara nodded.

"All the signs point in that direction, I have eliminated the possibility of someone on the ship its self being a double agent for two reasons: only my most trusted agents where allowed on the ship and before you arrived no shuttle left or boarded the ship." Liara explained. "Problem now is that I have operatives all over the galaxy to suspect."

"If you need any help let me know." Shepard instructed Liara.

"Off course I will Commander." Liara nodded and Shepard left the room, he was considering what to do next when Marcus approached him.

"Shepard, I'm not usually one to ask favours of people, especially since people usually ask favours of me, but I need your assistance with something." Marcus said.

"Did you happen to talk to Jenny, Andrea or Drakus in the past five minutes?" Shepard asked and Marcus raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I talked to Jenny why do you ask?" Marcus said before shaking his head. "Never mind, it's about my son, he's fallen into a bit of trouble."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"He's always been talented at technology; unlike me I've always left that to the tech experts, but therein lay the problem, he's currently in love with a Quarian on the Citadel." Marcus said just as he heard footsteps behind him.

"And is there a problem with that?" Tali's voice rang out with a distinct tone of annoyance, Marcus sighed.

"I knew I should've asked to have this conversation in private." Marcus sighed. "I have nothing against Quarians Tali, just this particular Quarian, hey name's Reya'Dora nar Wera, I don't know much about her but I checked up on her with help from Feron, she has a pretty extensive criminal record on the Citadel, nothing major but definitely a bad influence on my son."

"Sounds like she's on Pilgrimage, if that's the case I'd like to come with you and do what I can to help her." Tali said and Marcus sighed.

"This is where things get complicated; Reya also has a bounty on her head, 50 thousand credits, with explicit instructions to not leave any witnesses." Marcus said causing Shepard to blink.

"They put a 50, 0000 bounty on a Quarian girl's head?" Shepard asked. "It sounds like she's in as much trouble as your son."

"Yeah, I'd like to go to the Citadel and make sure that they are both safe." Marcus said, Shepard nodded as did Tali.

"We were going there anyway in order to help out Andrea." Shepard said.

"Commander, we've just arrived at the Krogan DMZ." Joker called out over the PA, Shepard saw Drakus and Grunt walk by.

"Drakus, Grunt, I need you two to accompany me on this mission." Shepard called out to them, the two Krogan nodded. "I'll see you guys when I get back." Shepard told Tali and Marcus before entering the elevator with the two Krogan.


	9. Chapter 9

(As I said before the character of Kolvant Garr belongs to Tolgron of the Mass Effect Universe forum)

Drakus and Grunt climbed in the Hammerhead after Shepard ready to depart for Tuchanka, the older Krogan had some trouble fitting into the Hammerhead but he managed just fine, the door closed and the ship left the Normandy for Tuchanka.

"So Shepard, who are we picking up?" Drakus asked as the ship neared the Urdnot landing pod. "I gotta say, it's been a while since I was last on the homeworld."

"We're picking up a Krogan from another clan; we're just stopping here so I can ask Wrex for directions." Shepard explained to the two Krogan. "More pacifically we're picking up a Krogan by the name of Kolvant Garr." Drakus tensed up when he heard the clan name. "Is there something wrong?"

"For one thing I and Grunt will have to return to the ship." Drakus said bluntly causing Grunt and Shepard to look at him oddly. "I don't know the man personally, from what I've heard he's a mercenary who won't abandon his current job but that's all I know about him."

"Okay but why won't you two be able to accompany me?" Shepard asked.

"Clan Kolvant and Clan Urdnot hate each other's guts, I don't know the reason but be careful Shepard you will be treated with suspicion due to your ties with Urdnot." Drakus explained and Shepard nodded.

"Okay, since we're close to the landing pad there's no point in turning back, I'll leave you two with Urdnot and send the Hammerhead back to pick up Garrus and Zaeed, sound like a plan?" Shepard asked.

"Fine by me, I want the chance to chat with Wrex again anyway." Drakus shrugged just as the Hammerhead landed, Drakus got off the shuttle first catching the attention off several Krogan.

"Well, well, if it isn't the old bastard." The Oversear said with a respectful nod, Grunt and Shepard got off the shuttle next and Shepard gave Drakus a curious look.

"What does he mean by old bastard?" Shepard asked.

"It's an old nickname of mine, mostly due to the fact that it's rare to see Krogan as old as me in this day and age." Drakus explained. "Just don't start calling me that on the ship." He added.

"You have a deal." Shepard nodded before turning to the Oversear. "Is Wrex in?"

"Yeah, same spot you left him in the last time you where here." The Oversear nodded before letting the trio past him, Shepard turned to him as the Hammerhead took off.

"In about five minutes my shuttle will return with a Turian and a Human, they're with me and I'd appreciate it if you would direct them to me when they arrive." Shepard requested.

"You got it." The Oversear nodded, Shepard led the two Krogan to the main area of the Urdnot clan's hideout, most of the Krogan where by the Varren fighting pit save for Wrex, his personal guard and the chief scout, Shepard went up to Wrex who smiled when he saw his old friend.

"Shepard, good to see you again, and I see you now have Drakus with you." Wrex greeted the trio with a respectful nod.

"Unfortunately I won't be staying for long." Shepard said after he returned the nod. "I need directions to where clan Kolvant hangs out." Just as Shepard suspected the mention of the rival clan made some Krogan tense up.

"Kolvant is a much hated name around here Shepard." Wrex warned him his previously friendly demeanour long gone. "However as I'm sure you'll be able to handle yourself over there I'll have the Chief Scout arrange for you to have transportation; I suppose that Drakus has told you that he and Grunt won't be welcome there."

"They have." Shepard nodded as Zaeed and Garrus joined Shepard. "That's why I'm bringing these two with me and leaving Drakus and Grunt here encase something goes wrong at Clan Kolvant." Shepard explained.

"That's a smart plan." Wrex nodded. "So, what's this I hear about the Reapers attacking Earth?" Wrex asked.

"Unfortunately it's true." Shepard said folding his arms. "Last I heard the casualty rate is at three million and counting."

"I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this Shepard but the Krogan will help you in any way they can." Wrex reassured him.

"Thank you Wrex." Shepard said before turning to Garrus and Zaeed. "Are you two ready to go?" Shepard asked.

"Ready to move whenever you are Shepard." Zaeed nodded.

"Hopefully this recruitment will be easier than the others." Garrus muttered. "But yes I am ready to move as well."

"All right, if I need any assistance I'll call you on the radio we used back when you served on the Normandy, provided you still have it off course." Shepard said, Wrex grinned and reached behind his throne retrieving the earpiece.

"Please Shepard, for a while this was all I had left of you physically, there's no way in hell I'd get rid of it." Wrex said as he put the earpiece on, Shepard turned and left taking Garrus and Zaeed with him whilst Drakus made his way to the Varren fighting pit and Grunt stayed behind to chat with Wrex.

"_Probably asking about those breeding requests he got after we killed the Thrasher Maw." _Shepard thought as he made his way to the chief scout who turned around.

"Your transport is ready Shepard; if you have any more questions about Clan Kolvant ask them and ask them fast." The scout said.

"I only have two: how big is Clan Kolvant and what is the area surrounding the Clan's site like?" Shepard asked.

"That's simple enough." The scout shrugged his shoulders. "The clan it's self is fairly large, nowhere near the size of Urdnot mind you but it's still large, as for the area surrounding it, it has some ancient ruins surrounding it but other than that there's nothing special about the area."

"In that case we're ready to go." Shepard said as the chief scout led them towards the Tomka, he directed Shepard and his crew to get in the backseat whilst the scout got in the front.

"Know this, I can only drive you to the outskirts of Clan Kolvant's capital, any closer and the vehicle would come under heavy fire." The scout warned them.

"So we get to battle the local wildlife on the way to a place where the locals are more likely to shoot us on site than talk to us, you want to throw in a nuke whilst you're at it?" Zaeed asked sarcastically but the sarcasm seemed to be lost on the scout.

"You want me to nuke clan Kolvant?" The scout asked clearly puzzled.

"It's called sarcasm." Zaeed said bluntly. "Look it up."

"I knew that." The scout asserted as he drove away, after about twenty minutes the Tomka rolled to a stop. "The Kolvant capital is a few miles to the North off here; I wish I could take you closer Shepard but..." The scout started.

"That's fine, I could use the exercise." Shepard joked.

"If you say so, if you need backup give the word and I'll transport your friends over." The scout said making it clear that he meant Drakus and Grunt.

"Thanks but hopefully that won't be necessary." Shepard nodded as he, Garrus and Zaeed got out of the tomka, Shepard closed the door behind him and the scout drove off, Shepard and his crew immediately drew their guns knowing that they would need them; Shepard put a hand to his earpiece. "EDI, can you give us the exact location of the Kolvant capital?" Shepard asked.

"Analyzing." EDI answered, after a few seconds EDI responded with. "The Kolvant capital is a 20 minute walk to the North from your current location, the Krogan we are recruiting, Kolvant Garr, was seen talking with the clan leader, Kolvant Kreeg."

"Thanks EDI." Shepard said as he started leading his crew to the Kolvant Capital, a couple of wild Varren tried to attack the trio but they were gunned down quickly, they found the capital soon enough and when Shepard entered the area he was greeted with a less than warm reception from the native Krogan, the campsite was fairly large, not as big as Urdnot's but still large, like Urdnot it had a Varren fighting pit but from what he could see

"You are the one they call Shepard correct?" A old Krogan said approaching him.

"What off it?" Shepard asked.

"I am Clan Kolvant's shaman and I come with a message from Clan Leader Kreeg, he wants to speak with you before you recruit Garr." The Krogan said bluntly.

"Isn't Garr talking with him?" Garrus asked.

"Indeed he is, follow me." The Shaman said leading the trio to the throne room where they saw an average sized Krogan chatting with the clan leader.

"Which one of you is Kolvant Garr?" Shepard asked, the Krogan chatting with the clan leader turned around and smiled.

"That would be Shepard." The Krogan said approaching him. "It would be an honour to fight by your side."

"This is the famous Shepard? Doesn't look like much." The Clan Leader scoffed. "But considering how highly Wrex thinks of you there must be more than meets the eye."

"I thought Clan Kolvant and Clan Urdnot hated each other?" Shepard asked.

"We do but I've heard stories about you in battle Shepard." The Clan Leader said standing up, he began pacing. "After all, defeating a Rouge Spectre, going beyond the impassable Omega 4 Relay and surviving, destroying Saren's Genophage cure." The clan leader's eyes narrowed as he mentioned the last one. "You have an impressive résumé."

"You don't hate Shepard for destroying the Genophage cure?" Zaeed asked sceptical.

"This is the one thing me and Wrex agree on, Saren's pale horde where not true Krogan." The Clan Leader said dismissively.

"You know who else said that? It was none other than the Krogan Warlord Okeer." Shepard said and the Clan Leader growled.

"You would do well to not compare me to a mad man Shepard, you're lucky my men didn't shoot you on site for your affiliation with Urdnot." The Clan Leader's eyes narrowed. "On the other hand that does sound like something that Okeer would say so I'm not surprised in the least." Just then the alarms went off.

"What was that?" Garrus asked.

"SCOUT, I NEED A REPORT NOW!" The Clan Leader yelled into his earpiece, after a few seconds the leader growled. "Nonthak is attacking us."

"Who's that?" Shepard asked.

"He's the leader off the one clan we hate more than Clan Urdnot, Clan Yuruk." The leader stroked his chin. "How's this for a deal Shepard, you successfully defend my clan against the invaders and you can have Garr for as long as you need him, wound Nonthak enough so that I can finish him off permanently and you will be made an honorary member of Kolvant." The clan leader suggested.

"Just once I'd like a recruitment mission to go according to plan." Shepard muttered getting a laugh out of the clan leader. "Besides that I'm already an honorary member of Clan Urdnot due to being Urdnot Grunt's battlemaster."

"I understand but my first offer still stands." The clan leader nodded.

"Thanks but no thanks, but you can do one other thing for me: let Urdnot Drakus and Urdnot Grunt into the camp, I'll need their help..." Shepard started.

"THAT IS OUT THE QUESTION!" The clan leader roared, Shepard frowned before an idea crossed his mind.

"Well then, good look fighting Clan Yuruk off without my help." Shepard said folding his arms.

"What? You dare to call my bluff?" The Clan Leader demanded.

"Sorry, Shepard needs those Krogan on his side and from what I can see you don't have the numbers to go to war." Zaeed chimed in. "Let's go Shepard, it's obvious that they don't need..."

"FINE! Your allies can enter the camp grounds" The clan leader growled.

"Was that so hard?" Shepard mocked before putting a hand to his earpiece. "Drakus, I need you and Grunt to meet us at the Camp Kolvant grounds, I've convinced the Clan Leader to let you both in."

"I'm not even going to ask how you pulled that off." Drakus answered. "We'll be there, count on it." Drakus said before hanging up, 20 minutes later the two Krogan arrived and their reception was even colder than the one Shepard got, they approached Shepard and his crew.

"Good your here, I hope you didn't have to kill all the clan members to get here." Shepard said half jokingly.

"Let's just say the oversear will be in the medical tent for weeks." Drakus grumbled. "So why have you dragged us into hostile territory?" Drakus asked, Shepard explained the situation. "I can't say I'm familiar with this Clan Yuruk."

"It's a small clan, no bigger than a small Earth town." Garr answered. "As for why they are attacking Clan Kolvant it's because the clan leader is a mad man."

"You do know that you just described your own clan leader right?" Drakus asked earning a glare from the Clan Leader which he ignored. "I'm ready to go Shepard, personally I'd prefer to see this clan burn to the ground but since this is important I'm ready for battle."

"I am as well, Battlemaster." Grunt nodded.

"There's one more thing." Shepard said turning to the Clan Leader. "Who's leading the defence?

"That would be Kolvant Darr, you can find him over there." The Clan Leader said pointing to a large Krogan near a Tomka.

"Let's move." Shepard said leading his four crewmembers and Garr to the Krogan. "Kolvant Darr?" Shepard asked once they were close enough, the large Krogan looked up. "I'm Commander Shepard and..."

"Your helping me in the assault, I know the leader told me whilst you where calling Drakus and Grunt." Darr said with a nod. "We need all the help we can get; Clan Yuruk has the Blood Pack on its side."

"A clan run by a madman and the Blood Pack, you certainly know how to make missions fun Shepard." Drakus grinned.

"We're ready when you are Darr." Shepard said, Darr nodded and opened up the Tomka.

"Then get in, I intend to intercept those bastards before they reach the capital." Darr said, they entered the Tomka which drove off.


	10. Chapter 10

Shepard, Garrus, Zaeed, Drakus and Grunt got out of the tomka when it stopped followed closely by Darr, they were on the outskirts of the Kolvant capital and they could hear the charging Krogan from miles away, standing in front of them was about 500 Kolvant Krogan who immediately drew their guns the minute they saw Drakus and Grunt.

"Stand down, I never thought I'd say this about a member of Clan Urdnot, let alone two, but they are on our side." Darr shouted at the Krogan, they all exchanged uncertain looks before holstering their guns.

"You certainly know how to command respect." Shepard commented.

"I didn't get this far in the army without being able to do so." Darr answered before turning to one of his troops. "You, give us an update."

"Yes sir." The Krogan nodded. "Clan Yurock is nearing this position, the Blood Pack forces look formidable but even then this is a fool's battle as far as Clan Yurock is concerned."

"We have a ship in orbit; we could bombard the enemy troops." Drakus suggested but the Krogan shook his head.

"At any other time that would be a fine idea Drakus, however there is one fact that negates that option." The Krogan said with a frown. "They have our ambassador as a bargaining chip." Darr became enraged by the news.

"WHY WASN'T I TOLD SOONER?" Darr demanded.

"We only just found out this information ourselves." The Krogan said keeping his temper in check. "If we had found out sooner than you would have already found out." Darr growled before he started pacing.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Shepard asked. "I met an ambassador when I was last at Clan Urdnot's camp, from what I gathered they are pretty important."

"They are." Garr spoke up for the first time since arriving at the sight. "Normally what happens is that as they grow closer to retirement ambassadors train a protégé in combat and diplomacy in the hopes that, eventually, they will succeed them by defeating them in unarmed combat, that time is nearing for our ambassador, except..."

"He hasn't named one yet." Darr interrupted. "That is why the clan leader is so edgy lately."

"Then I'll make securing the ambassador's safety top priority." Shepard told them. "Well, top priority right alongside killing Nonthak and the Blood Pack leader."

"Leave the ambassador to me and my troops Shepard, you and your crew can deal with the leaders." Darr said.

"In that case I'll go after the Clan Leaders as well." Garr said drawing his gun. "Let's hope that you are as good as they say you are Shepard."

"I'm not, I'm better." Shepard said drawing his gun. The sounds of approaching Krogan where getting louder by the second. "We're too exposed out here, find cover!"

"He's right." Darr started shouting at the Krogan in his command in the Krogan's native language but once they got to cover Shepard as able to get the gist of what he was saying.

"Grunt, Drakus, Zaeed, Garr, Garrus, Grunt, your with me." Shepard ordered them to follow him to a large rock with a smooth top that could be used for sniping which Shepard intended to use for cover, tensions where high among the group as the enemy Krogan neared, Zaeed climbed on top of the rock with assistance from Drakus and got out his sniper rifle. "Good thinking Zaeed."

"Thanks Shepard, Garrus, up for joining me?" Zaeed asked but by that time Garrus was already on top of the rock with his sniper rifle out.

"I'm way ahead of you." Garrus said as he put the scope up to his eye. "I see them, and they are approaching fast." Garrus said into his earpiece.

"Any sign of the ambassador?" Garr asked.

"He stands out like a sore thumb." Garrus answered. "He's the only Kolvant clan member near them and they have him out in front with a few other prisoners, humans included and from the look of things they are slaves."

"Meat shields, the damn cowards are too scared to send out their own men." Drakus growled angrily. "What about the leaders of the two clans?"

"I see the Blood Pack leader; he's towards the back of the group." Zaeed answered. "I can't get a clear shot from this angle however."

"Garr, Darr, do either of you know what Nonthak looks like?" Garrus asked.

"He's around Drakus' size and is rarely seen out of his full body armour, he should be the only one in the group with full body armour." Garr answered, Garrus looked in his scope and quickly located the Krogan as he was towards the back.

"I see him but he's moving around too much for me to get a good shot." Garrus frowned. "I can snipe of his underlings however."

"Same here, I have a Vorcha with a bullet with its name on it." Zaeed added.

"Wait until they are a bit closer, that way we can take advantage of the confusion and storm them." Darr answered.

"Fine then, we wait." Garrus grunted keeping his scope up to his eye. "Tell us when they get close enough for us to take the shot." Garrus added, around ten minutes later Darr called back.

"My men are ready, take the shots." Darr announced, Shepard turned to Drakus, Garr and Grunt and motioned for them to follow him, they joined up with the Kolvant troops and Garrus and Zaeed zoomed in on their targets, Zaeed fired first taking the Vorcha's head clean off, whilst the Blood Pack members looked around for the shooter Garrus took the advantage and turned on Armour Piercing Ammo and fired at the Krogan twice both rounds hitting him in the head, the Krogan dropped like a sack of potatoes and before the Yurock members could react the Kolvant clan charged.

"IT'S AN AMBUSH!" The Blood Pack leader shouted as he drew his gun.

"Shepard, secure the civilians, we'll keep the bastards off your back." Darr shouted into his earpiece as he charged, Shepard didn't need to be told twice and he led the three Krogan and secured the civilians, some of the humans where too weak to walk any further so Drakus used his biotics to carry them to safety, the enemy Krogan tried firing at him but the Kolvant Krogan kept them busy and the fact that Garrus and Zaeed continued to snipe them was not helping matters, once the captives where behind the rock Shepard turned to them.

"Are you going to be safe here?" Shepard asked them after he used medigel on the slaves, the Kolvant ambassador nodded.

"I'm good to fight but the others, even with the medigel, aren't, if they get to close to us I'll fight them to the death." The Kolvant ambassador said confidently.

"How'd you get into this mess anyway?" Drakus asked.

"The humans and the Turian are slaves, brought off world for situations such as this." The Kolvant ambassador said with disgust clear in his voice. "Me? I was trying to reason with the clan leader, even Krogan know when a battle seems hopeless, next thing I knew the crazy bastard's personal guards shot me in the back enough times to knock me unconscious." The Krogan's eyes narrowed. "I survived obviously but when I woke up I was in the same cell as them."

"I'm not surprised." Drakus said before turning to Shepard. "Shepard, for the time being I'll stay with the ambassador, his wounds may have regenerated by then but I want to make sure he can fight when they get to close."

"Right, if things get to tough contact me on my radio." Shepard told him. "Grunt, Garr, let's kick some ass." Grunt pumped his fists enthusiastically and Shepard led the charge into battle guns a blazing, Grunt joined in with the Krogan attacking the Blood Pack whilst Shepard and Garr joined in the attack on Clan Yurock.

"This is outrageous!" The Blood Pack leader barked out as he witnessed his men drop from either sniper shots from Garrus and Zaeed or gunfire from the approaching Krogan. "This was supposed to be an easy raid Nonthak, if we get out of this alive I will skin you alive and feed your still bleeding corpse to my Varren..."

"**I AM KROGAN!"** The Blood Pack leader heard Grunt shout as he charged through Kolvants ranks and rammed right into him, he slammed him against the floor and drew his shotgun. "You talk too much." Grunt said before taking the Blood Pack leader's head off with a shotgun blast, the remaining Vorcha and Varren that weren't engaged in battle with the other Krogan charged at him, Garrus and Zaeed took out two Vorcha with simultaneous headshots and let the Kolvant clan members finish off the rest.

As the Kolvant members attacking the Blood pack finished off the last of the Blood Pack members and focussed on Clan Yurock, one Krogan quickly realized that they were overwhelmed and tried to run but Nonthak killed him with a shotgun blast to the back of the head. "WE STAND AND FIGHT AS ONE!" Nonthak shouted to the remaining troops.

"Then you die together." Garr said coldly as he marched alongside the Kolvant clan with Shepard and his crew behind the group, Nonthak started firing upon the enemy Krogan but was quickly overwhelmed and taken out by Garr with a shotgun blast to the head, Shepard turned to Garr as they walked away.

"Well, we've killed the clan leaders and stopped the invasion; can I count on you on the mission now?" Shepard asked and Garr nodded.

"Off course you can Shepard." Garr nodded, Shepard put a hand to his earpiece.

"Joker, send the shuttle, we're on our way back." Shepard told the pilot as Zaeed, Drakus and Garrus rejoined them, Drakus was carrying the slaves via his biotics and the Kolvant ambassador returned to his clan. "Send the Hammerhead as well; we have some slaves that I intend to return to council space for treatment."

"You got it Commander." Joker said. "Oh and Jenny and Andrea started an argument whilst you where away, Jenny's pretty upset about it." Shepard frowned.

"I'll address it when we're on board, where are they now?" Shepard asked.

"Both are on the crew deck, there's one thing you should know though, Jenny punched Andrea over some comment she made, the argument started from there." Joker added and Shepard frowned, a few minutes later the shuttle and Hammerhead showed up and Drakus loaded the slaves onto the Hammerhead and the crew plus Garr got in the shuttle.

"You leave the ship for ten minutes and a biotic catfight breaks out." Garrus muttered under his breath.

"Just be glad Jack wasn't involved, there wouldn't be a ship to return too." Zaeed responded. "What are we going to do with the slaves Shepard?"

"We'll drop them off on the Citadel for treatment, I'm sure the council would be interested in any info on the slave ring they were brought from." Shepard answered as the two ships took off for the Normandy. "In the meantime I'll leave them in Dr. Chakwas' care."

"What do you want to do about the catfight?" Drakus asked.

"I'll keep them separated for the time being, even if it means Rupert delivering their food to their rooms at dinner time, once we're on the Normandy I'll talk to both of them." Shepard answered.

"If you want help with Andrea give me a shout." Drakus said shifting his weight. "I've known her longer than anyone else on the Normandy, well besides Jenny but something tells me that her presence would make things worse."

"Thanks Drakus." Shepard nodded as the two shuttles boarded the SR2."EDI, where are Andrea and Jenny?" Shepard asked the AI once he was off the shuttle.

"Crewmember Andrea McKenzie is in the medbay being treated by Dr. Chakwas for teeth being knocked lose by Jenny's punch, Private Jenny McKansa is in her quarters with Tali, and she is quite distressed by the argument." EDI said before her avatar disappeared.

"No prizes for guessing why Tali's with her." Garrus said folding his arms. "If Andrea's in the medbay then there won't be enough room for them."

"We'll keep them down here; Drakus transport them to the medbay once I radio you to let you know when to transport them." Shepard told the old Krogan who nodded, Shepard made his way up to the crew's quarters and true to EDI's word he saw Andrea in the medbay sitting on a bed and wearing a black tanktop and jeans, he entered the medbay and turned to Andrea. "How's the tooth?"

"EDI told you huh?" Andrea asked but didn't wait for an answer. "I've suffered worse."

"Good to know but what was the argument about?" Shepard asked and Andrea sighed in annoyance.

"All I did was make an offhand comment to Jack about Jenny's grandfather belonging in the loony bin, I didn't even realize that was she behind me." Andrea said before adding. "Yes, I know how horribly offensive a comment that is so don't bother bringing that up."

"Regardless I'm siding with Jenny here." Shepard said and Andrea frowned.

"Do you really? You want to know what she followed the punch with. She called me a STD infected slut who didn't get hugged enough growing up, if it weren't for Marcus' timely intervention she would have suffered a lot worse than a punch." Andrea grunted. "But hey, if you're going to side with Little Ms. Perfect then I don't need this." Andrea said before jumping off the bed and storming off to her quarters.

"I knew it was a matter of time." Shepard muttered under his breath. "You didn't stop her?"

"Her injury wasn't that severe, she could've left whenever she wanted." Chakwas told him.

"Right, I'll talk to them both later when they've had time to cool off, we picked up some slaves on Tuchanka and I'll be leaving them in your care until we stop off on the Citadel." Shepard said before radioing Drakus to bring the slaves up, he left the medbay and turned to EDI'S avatar. "EDI, tell Joker to set a course for the Citadel and Ilium in that order."

"Off course I will Commander." EDI said before her avatar disappeared.


End file.
